Prologue San d'Oria: Mithra Tails
by EJyPt
Summary: Lives and realities intersect as two Mithra begin their journey. Co-written by the author known as Vivli.
1. Vivli Tails 1

**Final Fantasy XI**

**_Prologue San d'Oria: Mithra Tails_**

**Note d'Author: First off, the usual mandatory disclaimer.**

**The insanely popular franchise known as Final Fantasy is not, never has, and (unless I am suddenly blessed with phenomenal luck and great fortune) never will be owned by me. That being said, the worlds, characters and events of the games are property of Square Enix. Although many of the characters and story elements of what I'm about to write are of my own design, I have no delusions as to whose metaphorical background I'm playing in.**

**Also, while I'm on the subject, a few of the characters herein were graciously lent to me by other authors, notably those known on this site as Vivli and Miiake, from their own respected stories, as well as a few story elements pertaining to those characters, their personality and backgrounds. The author known as Vivli has even granted me the honor of writing a few story sequences herself, introducing her own character. So I extend a big thanks to those who have inspired and assisted me in this project.**

**Which brings me to my next point: the story itself. In about thirty words or less, the main goal behind what I'd like to call my Final Fantasy Project is to novelize the stories of all the main games in the series. That's actually more simply put than what my insanely addled brain has intended for this project, but I'll go further into that at another time when the need arises for a more detailed explanation.**

**Suffice it to say that for Final Fantasy XI, the main storyline will be that of the game, all the main missions and a few related quests, eventually branching off into the various expansions and add-ons. So for those of you who are currently playing the game and are worried about such things as spoilers, you may be rather reluctant to read my work. However, I think it must be said that the official canonical story of FFXI will only be a part of it. Many of the main characters will be those played by myself or other players online, and as such will have their own stories and backgrounds. There will also be a few original story ideas interwoven throughout, and mayhaps even a bit of a twist or reinterpretation of the game story. So I hope that those of you not too worried about spoilers, or other such similar devices intended to improve road-holding at high speeds, will at least give it a chance.**

**What you are about to read is the prologue of the San d'Oria storyline, introducing the two main characters, Vivli and Saskya. Few of you may have already read it, as it had been previously posted separately on this site as _Vivli Tails_ and _Saskya Tails_. Wow, has it really been four years ago? I have put them together into a single prologue in preparation for my return to this project, with only a few minor changes.**

**As before, each section of this prelude will take place in an alternate reality. My way of dealing with the multiple servers for FFXI, as each dimension is named after one of the game servers.**

**Anyway, that's about it for now. If there's anything that anyone has to say about any of this – any ideas for this story, or any of the other game stories, any interested in helping out, or just general comments on the state of my mental health – please feel free to contact me.**

**And thanks for showing interest enough to read this far.**

**I: Vivli Tails**

_(originally posted 05-13-06)_

**The Hades Dimension** (written by author Vivli)

Four warriors battled heroically against a hoard of attacking beastmen. One, a Hume with short brown hair, wearing the proud armour of the paladin. Zinkata. Another, a massive thickly bearded Galka, fighting with a mixture of Dark Knight scythe attacks and the styles of the old monks. Bootus. A third fired arrows from a distance, a tall dark Elvaan with long black hair and a seemingly perfect aim. Voldos.

The fourth?

She mostly stood away and looked scared.

Vivli, a short Mithra with unusually long blonde hair, dressed in the robes of the white mage.

Worryingly, these were the four heroes known as the Light Warriors, the greatest heroes Vana'diel had ever known. They had saved the world more than once. And were known as the greatest fighting force on the planet.

"HELP!" Bellowed Vivli as an Orc advanced towards her, in a way that made the others glad nobody else was watching 'the greatest fighting force on the planet' in action.

"You can handle just one!" Zinkata replied, casually blocking one of the Orc's attacks and slicing him across the chest.

"How?" Vivli cried. Vivli was extremely physically weak, even for a white mage, and completely lacked any skill in close combat.

"Use your magic!" Bootus declared, catching a spear in the curve of his scythe, then spinning the weapon around and beating an Orc to death with the handle.

"Oh." Vivli replied simply, before summoning up an awesome blast of white magic; Holy. It knocked the Orc flying back, but only seemed to attract attention to herself.

"I'm sure she actually got stupider after her hair became blonde." Bootus grumbled.

"Guys! Help!" Vivli declared, three of the beastmen closing in on her.

Zinkata rolled his eyes, and turned to help her. As he did so, an Orc let out a threatening growl, and pointed its spear at the paladin's throat.

"Oh. Thanks for that." Zinkata said simply. The Orc looked confused for a moment, before Zinkata in a flash grabbed the spear from the beast and threw it at one of the Orcs attacking Vivli. It shot through the beast's throat, killing it instantly (and splattering blood in Vivli's direction).

"Ew!" She declared. "Try not to kill them in a gross way!" Two arrows thudded into the other beastmen, killing them.

"How was that?" Voldos grinned.

"Thanks, Voldos." Vivli sighed.

"Pleasing ladies is my speciality." Voldos smiled smugly.

"Voldos! You have a wife now!" Bootus reminded him, erasing the smile from Voldos's face.

Zinkata ignored their bickering, and used his sword to finish off the last beastman.

"Good job everyone." He sighed, sheathing his sword.

"Everyone?" Bootus questioned. "Viv, your performance left a bit to be desired."

"I don't do combat!" She declared, hands on her hips. "You know that. You're meant to defend me."

"And you're meant to heal us." Zinkata reminded her gently, pointing to a cut on his arm.

"Fine. You big baby." Vivli mocked, just waving her arm and curing the paladin in a flash.

The Light Warriors were an odd bunch. Zinkata was a natural leader, and as so, was unofficially in charge of the gang. Voldos was a bit of a womanizer, but had since married and grown to have a bit more respect. Although he was still far from bright. Bootus could be a bit of a bully, but only in a playful way, he loved to tease others.

Vivli was a little more complicated. At least, she liked to think she was. Her lack of physical ability, and general distaste for violence, made her a bit of a coward at times. But she was also a very powerful white mage, and would always try to do the right thing. Everything may scare her, but come hell or high water she would face it if something was on the line.

Sadly, this didn't always shine through.

"Well, we're done." Bootus declared.

"Done?" Vivli asked in disbelief. "How do you figure that?"

"Well, we got hired to find missing people, right?" Bootus began to explain.

"And we found beastmen!" Vivli countered. "How do you figure we're done?"

"Beastmen were obviously killing the people." Bootus assumed.

Vivli looked around for a moment in disbelief.

"Bootus!" She declared. "We're in North Gustaberg! Don't ya think people would already factor beastmen into this kind of thing?"

"Fine! Make us do more work!" Bootus sighed.

"We're talking about people's lives here!" Vivli screeched in frustration.

Zinkata and Voldos exchanged a 'let's not get involved' glance.

"We could say it's beastmen, and be done with it." Bootus argued.

"No, we couldn't! 'cause that's not the real reason!" Vivli argued back.

"But they'd believe us and pay us anyway!" Bootus pointed out.

"But we have to do the right thing! We have to stop them!" Vivli was getting more angry now. "And if you won't help, I'll do it alone! Because I know you won't let me 'cause you don't want me to die."

Vivli marched off in the direction they had been heading, leaving the others behind. Voldos and Zinkata quickly followed after her.

"We supported you anyway, you know, Viv?" Voldos told her.

"So did he." Zinkata observed as Bootus followed her, chuckling at the little Mithra's fury.

"I know!" Vivli snapped.

"He was just winding you up." Zinkata continued.

"I know!" She snapped again, before spinning around to face the paladin, forced to stare at him. "So why did it work?" She asked desperately.

"I'm sure he'll get his comeuppance." Zinkata said gently, resting a hand on Vivli's skinny shoulder.

And by cosmic coincidence, that was the exact moment the ground gave way beneath Bootus's feet, and he fell into a hole.


	2. Vivli Tails 2

The Cerberus Dimension (written by author Vivli)

A band of demonic creatures chased a small group of fleeing figures through the ruins of the once great city of Windurst. The ragged group of survivors ran as fast as they could as the pursuing creatures closed in on them. They finally stopped, and knew it was too late. They had journeyed for miles, hoping, praying that Windurst still stood, and now they had arrived, and it did not. All hope was lost. The refugees, children, women, men of every race, turned and surrendered.

The demons closed in, standing huge and proud, thick black scales across them, glaring red eyes peering out of the darkness, wings spread high and shining claws readied. They prepared to strike them down, but their claws never made contact.

A piercing bolt of white hit them back, and they were forced to stagger away.

"Run! Now!" Came a sharp command as a Mithra leapt from the top of one of the ruined buildings, landing in the middle of the creatures. One swung for her, but she ducked under its claw and kicked it back, turning and blocking an attack from another.

"Who are you?" Cried one of the survivors.

"I'm Vivli." The Mithra managed to sigh, before kicking another demon back and blasting another away with white magic. "And now would be a good time for you to run."

The refugees did so and Vivli spun, fighting them off. Each one tried to swipe at her, but she ducked and dodged, occasionally blocked, spinning them around and driving them away. One managed to uppercut her and sent her flying back. She crashed against a wall and dropped down. The demon ran in at her, but was tackled before it could make contact. A man drove his fist into it and knocked it back. Vivli flipped to her feet, and hurled out more magic.

"Alright?" The man asked. Vivli didn't dignify that with an answer.

"You go left. I'll go right. We'll meet back at HQ. Go!" She ordered, running off. The man watched her go and sighed to himself.

"That woman is obsessed with her work." He muttered.

The refugees continued to run, unsure exactly who their savior had been, but knowing not to waste the opportunity.

"In here!" Came a sudden voice. The group skidded to a stop, and dived into a ruined building, where they were guided down a secret passage by a battered looking Tarutaru, her hair so long and tangled it nearly engulfed her.

The Tarutaru led the group in silence through dug out tunnels for a moment, before one of the refugees approached her.

"Who are you guys?" He asked curiously.

"We're the resistance." The Tarutaru replied. "I'm Remasa. Resident healer. Vivli you've met. I'll introduce you to the others later."

"Resistance? I didn't think anybody was left." The young man, a Hume, sighed in awe.

"When Chaos rose we all thought it was the end of the world. We were mostly right." Remasa sighed. "But some people just wouldn't give in. They found me, I didn't find them. We've been fighting ever since."

"You think you can win?" A startled female Elvaan spoke up from the group.

"I think we can survive." Remasa replied.

"I'm Doyle." The male Hume introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you." Remasa replied. "You made it this far. All of you. That means you ain't weak. We may have use for you." She explained to everybody else, before the rest of the introductions could get going. "But if we do, you're gonna have to be ready to fight."

"We'll always be ready." The Elvaan nodded. "I'm ready to fight these guys."

"We all are." Doyle input.

"Good!" Remasa declared.

In what was once Jeuno, a gigantic black tower stood tall. And within it resided Chaos, Demon Lord and ruler of Vana'diel. Another demon approached him.

"My Lord, we have reports of the resistance in Windurst aiding others in their escape." He explained grimly.

"They are of little concern." Chaos decided. "Yet mortal. So a little is enough." He added, grinning slightly. "Deploy a legion there immediately. Find them. Kill them!"

"Sir, she is leading them." The demon stated.

"Ah, yes." Chaos smiled. "The last Light Warrior. Well, I killed the other three. I can deal with her."

"Of course, my Lord."

Doyle sat around in the cave, waiting, until he heard voices echoing.

"Well it's not my fault you got lost!" Came a female voice.

"I wasn't lost! I got cut off!" The male protested.

"So I had to save your ass again?" The female questioned.

"No! I had it under control!" Came the response.

"Sure looked it!" The female spat sarcastically. The Mithra who had saved him before and her male companion walked into the lair. For the first time, he got a good look at them. The Mithra was short, yet lean and muscular, with long tangled brown hair, brown from the dirt, its natural colour was impossible to tell, and had three claw marks where her left eye should be. She wore an eye patch over it, but the scars from the claw were still easily visible. The man next to her wore a battered brown jacket over the usual rags they wore. An unusual piece of clothing, considered all that was lost.

"New people." He observed. "I'm Olose. Vivli you've met." Vivli gave them a hard stare until Olose elbowed her, and she proceeded to wave.

"Thanks." Doyle said, moving forwards and shaking her hand. She withdrew it suspiciously, causing him to pause. "For saving our lives. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Had to." She replied simply. "That or die."

"Viv was one of the four Light Warriors." Olose explained. "The four destined to stop Chaos and save the world."

"Yeah, 'cept we failed." Vivli grumbled sorely, pushing past Olose and wondering off miserably.

"Viv!" Olose tried to call after her, but she was gone. He turned to explain to Doyle. "Look, they actually saved us all. Chaos nearly literally destroyed the world, but the Light Warriors stopped him. Three of them died in doing so, and Vivli only just managed to escape. But at least we're still here. And we can still fight back."

"Escape? How?" Doyle questioned. Olose shot him a look.

Vivli had walked out of the hideout and sat on the top of a ruined building, staring out sadly. It was a few minutes before her sensitive ears heard someone pacing behind her. She instantly sprang off of her perch and spun around in a high kick. The person ducked and kicked also, high enough to hit her head. She blocked, and drove her fist forwards. The other man blocked also, and the two froze facing each other.

"Impressive." Vivli admitted as she saw Doyle.

"We didn't get this far on luck." Doyle explained.

"So why were you running?" She smiled, her single eye scanning him.

"Why did you?" He shot. Vivli paused, eyeing him. "Those years ago. You fought Chaos. Your friends died. You ran."

"I was young. I was afraid-" Vivli began, trying to justify it.

"That's it. Fear." Doyle confirmed. "I was afraid. Afraid for myself, afraid for my friends. We always run." He explained.

"How did you know about that? Did Olose-" Vivli emitted an angry Mithran growl as she spoke.

"No. Well, he hinted and then tried to avoid the subject. I worked it out." Doyle smiled.

"I was a coward." Vivli sighed sadly, looking at her arms. "I was weak and pathetic."

"You lived to fight another day." Doyle reminded her. "All this was you." He motioned to the lair.

"What makes you say that?" Vivli snorted.

"I saw you fight. You're the leader here."

"Some leader." Vivli sighed. "Look where I've lead us."

"We're alive. Like Remasa said, that's all that mattered. If we survive, then Chaos can never truly win."

At that moment, a war horn tore throughout the air, and Vivli's eye went wide.

"That's…that's…" Doyle began.

"A demon war horn." Vivli finished. "I haven't heard one of those in…" She trailed off, springing to her feet and athletically running up to the top of the nearest building. She almost fell off in shock. "It's an army!" She exclaimed. "An army is coming this way!"

"They must know about you." Doyle assumed.

"Ya think?" Vivli cried back. "They're taking no chances on this one.." She continued in shock. "Doyle! Go! Now! Get below ground. The tunnels lead into a large cave network. I don't know where it leads, but it's away from here. Get everybody out. I'll hold them off."

Vivli didn't wait for Doyle's reply, but went to attack. But before she could move, somebody grabbed her tail and pulled her down. She spun around and slapped Doyle in the face.

"What do you think you're doing?" She screamed. "Get them out of here!"

"No!" Doyle countered. "You go!"

"What?" Vivli screeched. "I'm their leader!"

"So lead!" Doyle countered.

"I can't run away and let you be killed by them!" She yelled. "I can't! It's my duty to fight!"

"No, it's your duty to ensure the mortal race survives." Doyle explained. "Viv, fear makes you run away. It makes all of us run. But after a while, it's also what makes you stand and fight. It made you run, but turned you into a fighter. It made me run. Now it's my turn to go the rest. You're the only one who can oppose Chaos. You have to survive." Vivli paused for a moment, looking as though she was turning teary. She shut her eye and clenched her jaw.

"Fine. Go." She said quietly. "I'll send what reinforcements I can."

"No, just get out of here. Now!" Doyle began to run, just as Olose sprang out of the hideout.

"What's going on?" He asked quickly.

"Help him." Vivli said quietly, before disappearing into the lair. Olose paused.

"What? Viv? Viv?" He called, before hearing the approaching footsteps. "Oh Goddess!" He exclaimed, turning and running out to assist Doyle.

It was a good few minutes before their screams filled the air.

Vivli led the masses through the cave network, not even knowing where they were going. Her fists were clenched. They had all heard the screams. And now they were rushing through the caves, hoping not to be caught. She let out a single sob, and then steeled her nerves.

"They won this time." She told the others. "But mark my words, we will survive. We shall forever fight, and one day, Chaos will fall and we'll all be free."

We'll all be free.


	3. Vivli Tails 3

**The Diabolos Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

She waited.

Vivli sat motionless on a large branch high up a tree in the forest of West Ronfaure, near the Elvaan city of San d'Oria. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be relaxing in the warmth of the bright sun. The only indication to the contrary, however, was that her long thin tail hung perfectly still without even the slightest twitch. A moment later, her highly sensitive ears detected a sound in the distance.

She opened her eyes.

It was time.

Voldos was bored with his assignment.

He and about a dozen other Elvaan guards had been charged with the duty of escorting a chocobo-drawn carriage from the distant fishing village of Selbina.

There had been a brief exhilarating moment of excitement as they crossed the Valkurm Dunes, fighting off hordes of attacking goblins. However, it waned considerably once they reached the plateau of La Theine. There was the occasional Orc or wandering goblin to contend with, but otherwise things were rather quiet.

He may have found it more interesting had there been any female guards along for the trip. Unfortunately, the last female Voldos had seen had been back in Selbina. Just as unfortunately, she had not been too impressed by his intentions. The memory of the stinging slap he had received could attest to that.

As it was, he was glad that they were finally nearing the city walls of San d'Oria.

He did not even know what was in the carriage they were guarding. They were told not to ask, and expressly forbidden to look inside.

He was distracted from further thought, however, when a small Mithra dropped down from a nearby tree, landing smoothly on her feet in the middle of their path. The two chocobo warkled in surprise as they came to a stop, the carriage jolting to a halt behind them.

All that held the attention of Voldos was her slender scantily-clad form.

"Why, hello there," he said with what he considered to be his most charming smile as he approached her.

He noticed now that what little she wore was a type of light padded armor outfitted with several strategically placed lethal-looking blades. She also wore a pair of small chain-linked gloves, each with four long blades protruding from the knuckles, very much like claws.

He chuckled. "You're not planning to rob us at blade-point, are you?"

She replied with a quick slash across his throat, before turning away and proceeding on to the other startled Elvaan.

What Voldos had completely failed to notice were the distinctively Orcish markings scrawled across her skin and armor.

Foddercheif Vokdek watched intently from afar as his protégé made short work of the Elvaan escorts.

She was incredibly fast. He watched with satisfaction as Vivli swung and twirled gracefully, slashing with the blades on her legs, arms and fists. It was the closest he could come to feeling pride for something that was not Orcish.

She had been brought to him at a very young age with orders to raise her as a killer. Despite the fact that these were orders he could not refuse, he was aware that he would be considered weak in the eyes of his underlings, raising such a pathetic creature.

Yet he took her in.

It had been a difficult process, training her, especially in the beginning. She was quite light and small, even for a Mithra of her age, and very weak. However, she was extraordinarily fast. He soon learned that a small target with a quick blade was just as deadly as a large one using brute force. She had developed her own unique style of combat, which proved to be quite formidable, especially when fueled by her temper. Many an Orc within his camp had learned this the hard way, as shown by their various scars and missing limbs. There were just as many who had not learned this, however, for it had cost them their lives.

Even Vokdek himself had felt the heat of her temper on several occasions, the most volatile of which had resulted in the loss of an eye. He chose not to wear an eye-patch, proudly displaying his empty eye socket, crossed by three livid scars that ran down his cheek.

The young Mithra had been with them for nearly a decade now. She had even earned the Orcish title of Swiftblade Vivli. As far as Vokdek was concerned, she was one of them.

His attention returned to the slaughter nearby. Within a minute, nearly a dozen Elvaan guards lay dead or dying at Vivli's feet.

"You've done well," remarked a deep voice nearby, "Better than I had expected."

It took all he had not to react with surprise at the sudden arrival of the tall figure in the black and crimson cloaked robe. Vokdek blamed it on his lack of peripheral vision from his missing eye, not to mention the fact that his attention had been centered on Vivli.

"Do not und'stand why," the Orc growled. His race was not the most eloquent of speakers.

"It's not your place to know why we need the Mithra girl," replied the mysterious figure, "Just to follow orders. Beastmen live to serve. Remember that."

Vokdek growled. "Shadow Lord Orc master."

The dark figure chuckled. "So it's going to be a contest of whose is bigger, is it?" Red eyes flashed within the darkness of the hood. "The Shadow Lord serves_ my_ master."

The Foddercheif grunted, but otherwise said nothing further. He knew he was risking his very life just by questioning his orders. He was uncertain why he had even done so. Perhaps part of him did not want to see Vivli go, for he knew that time had come.

The dark robed figure confirmed this with his next statement. "Your task is complete. We'll be taking the girl off your hands now."

This was foolish, Vokdek thought to himself as the figure made his way down the hill towards Vivli. She was only a useless Mithra. If not for his orders, he would have killed her long ago. It should make no difference to him whether she left now or not.

But it did.


	4. Vivli Tails 4

**The Midgardsormr Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

Voldos was bored with his assignment.

He and about a dozen other Elvaan guards had been charged with the duty of escorting a chocobo-drawn carriage from the distant fishing village of Selbina.

There had been a brief exhilarating moment of excitement as they crossed the Valkurm Dunes, fighting off hordes of attacking goblins. However, it waned considerably once they reached the plateau of La Theine. There was the occasional Orc or wandering goblin to contend with, but otherwise things were rather quiet.

He had hoped the trip would have been more interesting, for there was a single female among the Elvaan escorts. However, she had long since tired of his advances and had been ignoring him since they had entered La Theine Plateau. The memory of the stinging slap he had received could attest to that.

As it was, he was glad that they were finally nearing the city walls of San d'Oria.

He did not even know what was in the carriage they were guarding. They were told not to ask, and expressly forbidden to look inside.

He was distracted from further thought, however, when a small Mithra dropped down from a nearby tree, landing smoothly on her feet in the middle of their path. The single chocobo warkled in surprise as it came to a stop, the carriage jolting to a halt behind it.

All that held the attention of Voldos was her slender scantily-clad form.

"Why, hello there," he said with what he considered to be his most charming smile as he approached her.

He noticed now that what little she wore was a type of light padded armor outfitted with several strategically placed lethal-looking blades. She also wore a pair of small chain-linked gloves, each with four long blades protruding from the knuckles, very much like claws.

There was something very odd about her eyes. He couldn't quite place it. They seemed rather dark and clouded, and it was apparent that she was not going to be swayed by his charm.

So he reluctantly reached for his sword.

He barely had a grip on its handle when the young Mithra reacted with a quick slash across his throat. He slumped to the ground in shock as she turned away and proceeded on to the other startled Elvaan.

It suddenly came to Voldos as he lay on the ground, clutching his throat, his consciousness fading.

_Shadow._ The Mithra's eyes were dark with shadow energy. She reeked of it, cursed by its power. Her very veins flowed with Evil.

Vivli was not as slow-witted as the Orcs she had been raised with. She had a sharp intelligence, which on more occasion than not had enabled her to figure most things out on her own.

She realized that she had done this before.

Initially, she had assumed that this was merely another carriage bound for San d'Oria. Yet that had been the same male Elvaan with the same dumb-founded expression on his face as she cut him down.

This was the same carriage. It was on the same spot along the path in the forest of West Ronfaure. It was the same time of day. The very same day as it had happened before.

Yet her keen observation had brought to her attention several slight differences as well.

This time the carriage was being drawn by only one chocobo, not two. One of the male Elvaan had been absent, and replaced by a female. The carriage itself seemed a bit more worse for wear, a large gash in its side, and there was what appeared to be a goblin's dagger stuck in one of the crossbars of the wooden wheels.

The major difference, however, was that there were now a group of adventurers passing by. The commotion had sent them running to give assistance, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. The Elvaan guards already lay dead or dying at Vivli's feet.

She turned to the newcomers, the strange power that the mysterious cloaked man had given her coursing through her body. She enjoyed the feeling it gave her. It made her faster, stronger, smarter.

She sprang forward, taking out the two Elvaan immediately with two simultaneous well-aimed strikes. Twirling on one foot with the grace of a dancer, she slashed out with her right claw, eviscerating the Humaan. She leapt forward, and with a single flip high over the Galka's head, she landed on his back and decapitated him with a quick powerful crossing of her long metal claws against the back of his neck.

She achieved all this within a matter of seconds, without even blinking an eye.

She leapt away from the fallen Galka and turned towards the final adventurer, her claws ready, anxious to tear into flesh.

For the first time in her life, she hesitated during a battle, her sharp metal claws mere inches away from the surviving adventurer's face.

A rather familiar face.

Her mind was racing. This one was different from the others. She wasn't Elvaan, or Humaan, or Galka, or even one of those annoying little Tarutaru. She was something else.

Vivli had been aware at a very young age that she was quite different than the Orcs she grew up with. She had been told that she belonged to a race of beastmen who lived on a distant continent. That she had been found, and taken in by Vokdek, raised to fight in the upcoming war.

She knew now that had been a lie. She had actually been brought to the Orcs by the black cloaked man, to prepare for an important destiny.

Save for her own reflection in the clear lake surface, she had never before seen the face of a Mithra. Until that very moment, as she stood motionless, her claws uncomfortably close to the Mithra adventurer's nose.

It was very much like looking at her own reflection, with the exception that the other Mithra had deep red hair whereas her own was a light auburn color.

All this had flashed through Vivli's mind within the span of a second, long enough for the adventurer to swing her sword. Sparks flew as steel clashed against steel, and her metal claws were knocked aside by the force of the blow.

Vivli took a step back, contemplating her next move.

She had been raised to believe that the Mithra were another race of beastmen. That together with the Orcs and the other servants of Shadow, they fought to reclaim Vana'diel from the servants of Light.

Then why was this Mithra allied with Elvaan and Humes?

Perhaps that had been a lie as well. Perhaps Mithra were actually the fifth race, not against the Light as she had been told, but defenders of it.

How different would her life have been, she wondered, if she had been raised by Mithra instead of Orcs?

The figure in the black and crimson cloak watched as Vivli backed away from the other Mithra, apparently unsure what to do next.

He found it remarkable that she had never before seen another Mithra. Of course, in the dimension she had been taken from, most of the Mithra had been wiped out by a mysterious disease.

Considering her youth raised by Orcs, how would she react when faced with another of her kind?

She would have to make a decision soon, he thought, for this was her test. Not the carriage of Elvaan cargo, or the group of Elvaan escorts, but these stray adventurers. This other Mithra in particular.

Her decisions. Her actions. This moment would define her destiny.

The two Mithra stood motionless, glaring at each other above their raised weapons.

It was quite apparent that the other Mithra was distraught over the loss of her friends, angry at what Vivli had done. So why did she not attack?

Vivli did not yet fully understand the concept of morality and honor. She only knew of the rather skewed view of honor taught to her by the Orcs. If someone had done to her what she had just did, then she would have struck immediately, without mercy.

This Mithra, however, seemed to be waiting.

For what? Vivli wondered. Reinforcements?

With her enhanced heightened sense of hearing, Vivli could detect nothing that would have been considered a threat within the surrounding area for miles.

"Who are you?" asked the adventurer, "What do you want?"

Vivli stared at her. The Mithra was upset, angry, and clearly distressed. Yet she hesitated and inquired as to her attacker's intentions. This did not make any sense.

Vivli once again wondered why this Mithra was allied with the servants of Light. Were Mithra actually the fifth race? Or had this particular one been corrupted by the Light, a traitor in the eyes of Shadow?

Either way, she had to be dealt with.

Faster than the other Mithra could have possibly even thought to react, Vivli became a blur as she sprang forward and tore into the hapless adventurer.

The darkness within the figure's hood nearly hid the small smile as he watched the Mithra fall to the ground, dead.

Vivli had passed the test remarkably.


	5. Vivli Tails 5

**The Asura Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

She waited.

Vivli sat motionless on a large branch high up a tree in the forest of West Ronfaure, near the Elvaan city of San d'Oria. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be relaxing in the warmth of the bright sun. The only indication to the contrary, however, was that her long thin tail hung perfectly still without even the slightest twitch. A moment later, her highly sensitive ears detected a sound in the distance.

She opened her eyes.

It was time.

She gave a fierce trilling cry as she swung down from the tree, landing gracefully on her feet in the path of an approaching chocobo-drawn carriage. The two chocobo warkled in surprise as they came to a stop, the carriage jolting to a halt behind them.

Vivli unsheathed two rather elaborately designed blades, wielding one in each hand as five other Mithra emerged from hiding within the forest. The six females surrounded the carriage, their weapons drawn.

The Orcs didn't stand a chance.

Fodderchief Vokdek hefted the massive axe from off his back, growling as two of his Orcs fell dead in the sudden attack.

These Mithra were fast, swiftly attacking in what seemed to be a randomly haphazard manner. Yet there was indeed a pattern to the chaos. The five Mithra were weaving in and out among the beastmen, their small agile figures never staying in one spot long enough to become a target. They took turns attacking, one striking an Orc with her blade, then darting away to the next Orc while another Mithra leapt in to strike the one that had just been attacked.

Vokdek was the only Orc the five Mithra left untouched as they gradually decimated his team. The sixth Mithra, obviously their leader, stood motionless before him, waiting for him to make the first move. She held a pair of sharp curved blades in her hands.

The Fodderchief grunted. If he hadn't been so enraged, he would have been amused at the sight. This girl was even smaller than the other Mithra. Did she truly believe that she had the slightest chance against him on her own?

He tightened his grip on the great axe and charged the Mithra, ready to cleave her small head from her body.

The result was not quite what he planned.

As he swung the large axe towards her, she pounced, landing atop the axe-head. Then she dove at him, plunging a blade deep into each side of his thick neck. There was a sudden burst of pain, and the last thing he saw were the young Mithra's bright blue eyes before he fell to the ground, dead.

Vivli retrieved her weapons from the Orc's corpse and turned to her fellow Mithra. They were all waiting patiently, their weapons sheathed. The Orcs lay dead or dying at their feet.

She had been waiting anxiously for this carriage for the better part of the day, hoping that the Elvaan escort would not put up much of a fight. Despite the enmity between her people and the Elvaan, she did not wish to kill any of them. Even for something as important as this.

So she was very relieved to discover that the carriage had been highjacked by the Orcs, making her plan a lot easier. However, she discovered that she felt a bit guilty over the fact that she was not bothered that the Elvaan guards accompanying the carriage had most likely been slaughtered in order for the beastmen to have gained possession of it.

She nodded to the other Mithra and gestured to the carriage. It was time to get what they came for. The five females jumped onto the carriage and went inside.

The carriage reportedly held ancient Elvaan artifacts that have been recently discovered in the distant land of Aht Urhgan. The Royal Knights of San d'Oria had met the ship transporting them in the small fishing town of Selbina, and personally accompanied the carriage across the treacherous dunes of Valkurm and the vast plateau of La Theine. Vivli assumed that the Orcs had ambushed them just a short while ago, after they had passed the outpost in West Ronfaure. The beastmen were no doubt taking the carriage to their own outpost in Ghelsba.

Something this important would most likely require regular progress reports called in to San d'Oria by LinkPearl. They would be sending more Elvaan guards very soon, if they hadn't sent them already.

Vivli approached the carriage and glanced inside. The five young Mithra were digging through the many large chests, stopping every time they found something of interest to show the others. Considering the rare nature of these treasures, this happened quite a lot.

"Look at this one!" exclaimed one, as she held up a long intricately woven silk Elvaan robe. She held it against herself to see what it would look like on her.

"We arrre not thieves," Vivli told them, "We came here forrr one thing and one thing only. Now hurrry, before the Elves send someone to find out what happened to their lost trrreasure."

"Yes _Prrrincess_," sighed the Mithra, returning the robe to the treasure chest.

Vivli's tail twitched in agitation. She loathed that title. She wasn't even really a true princess. It was merely an honorary title bestowed upon the family line prophesied to bear the Chosen One. In fact, even in the beginning it had been a joke, borne from jealousy of the Mithra Queen at the time.

However, her family had gained such respect among her people that they were viewed as royalty by those in their village.

Still, Vivli did not like being called Princess, due mainly to the sarcasm with which the other Mithra used it to address her. They said it with enough respect when referring to her older sister, she had noticed. But Vivli was smaller and not as strong as most Mithra her age. She was constantly trying to prove herself.

Yet despite all her recent accomplishments, and the fact that she had just taken out the Orcish Fodderchief on her own, she was still viewed as a lesser Mithra by the others.

Well, she had been put in charge of this mission, and whether they liked it or not, the five Mithra had to follow her orders. They may have had a low opinion of her, but at least she was a warrior, and not something as lowly as, say, a white mage.

So she wasn't altogether useless.

She glanced at the Orcs sprawled around the Elvaan carriage. She was still quite proud of the fact that she had dealt with Vokdek so quickly. Even the rather unique attack plan her girls had employed had been her idea.

"Found it!" came the excited cry of the youngest Mithra among them, drawing Vivli's thoughts back to their mission. She held up the prize for all to see.

It was an amulet, formed into the shape of a silver dragon encircling a brilliant blue diamond.

Vivli allowed the five girls a chance to admire the ancient relic before it was handed over to her. How dare those arrogant Elvaan claim this as one of their lost treasures. It was obviously not of Elvish design at all. The intricate script engraved along its smooth surface was most definitely ancient Mithra. It was said that this amulet had been entrusted to them for safekeeping long ago by the mighty Wyrmking, Bahamut himself. It had been lost so long ago that no one knew how it had disappeared.

Now it was finally back in the hands of its rightful keepers.

Vivli grinned at the blue diamond as it sparkled in the sunlight. Just let them try to call her a lesser Mithra after this.


	6. Vivli Tails 6

**The Cait Sith Dimension** (written by author Vivli)

She waited.

Vivli sat shaking on a large branch high up a tree in the forest of West Ronfaure, near the Elvaan city of San d'Oria. Her eyes were closed tightly, and she seemed to be wobbling despite the warmth of the bright sun. Her long thin tail swayed madly, trying to keep her balance. A moment later, her highly sensitive ears detected a sound in the distance.

She opened her eyes.

And plummeted from the tree with a shriek.

Voldos wore a massive grin upon his face.

The assignment itself was boring. He and about a dozen other Elvaan guards had been charged with the duty of escorting a chocobo-drawn carriage from the distant fishing village of Selbina. But to his delight, the rest of the guards were female, and despite several failures, he was now getting along quite well with a tall brunette.

That was until a horrific shriek alerted him to someone who had just landed on the path before him.

"Why, hello there." Voldos grinned at the tiny Mithra, sprawled on the ground in pain. The brunette suddenly slapped him.

"I knew you weren't interested in me!" She protested.

"In my defense, I did hit on all the other girls in front of you too." Voldos explained desperately. He got slapped again and rubbed his cheek miserably.

"Owwwww." Groaned Vivli, legs and arms spread out on the ground. She got up feebly, aching all over and feeling as if the light breeze gently swaying across the forest was going to knock her over.

"Urm, who are you?" Voldos asked curiously.

"Vivli! Supreme Judge!" She declared, pulling out a staff that she luckily hadn't landed on. "And you're all under arrest for the transportation of stolen goods!"

For a moment there was a silence.

And then uncontrollable laughter.

"I'm serious!" Vivli insisted, with a stomp of her foot.

"Of course. Of course." Voldos replied, wiping a tear from his eye and ruffling the little Mithra's ginger hair playfully. "Well, I'm afraid San d'Oria does not recognize the authority of Supreme Judgement." He laughed his way through this statement.

"But I've got to stop you!" Vivli insisted.

"Aww, sweetie," The brunette spoke up. "What he's saying is, you and what army?"

Voldos cringed as soon as the Elvaan woman said this, because it set Vivli up for the inevitable:

"This one!"

A Hume and a Tarutaru suddenly jumped down from one side of the carriage, an Elvaan and another Mithra from the other side.

"What you're carrying is the property of Kazham!" The Tarutaru declared.

"Yeah!" Vivli agreed. "Remmy's right! Give us it back!" Voldos eyed up the group before him, and considered going for his sword.

"It? Just one artefact?" He confirmed.

"Yes." Vivli nodded, obviously a little shaken from her fall. She suddenly noticed that Voldos was eyeing her up. She shook a little.

"And it belongs to Kazham?" He repeated.

"Yes." Vivli nodded again, getting suspicious now.

"And you'll go on a date with me if I say yes?"

Vivli just stared in disbelief.


	7. Vivli Tails 7

**The Sylph Dimension** (written by author Vivli)

Vivli sighed, and did her best not to tear her hair out.

"I told you, I don't know!" She protested furiously.

"Well, you work here, don't you?" The gigantic Galka asked her. Vivli just stared at him in disbelief. Of course she worked there! They'd been discussing it! Not to mention she was in a staff dress and had her name badge on.

"I don't deal with the weapons! I've told you that!" This time she went the full way and pulled her bleached blonde hair down in frustration.

"Well, why not?" The Galka demanded, rubbing his beard.

"I'm not licensed to!" Vivli explained desperately. "Only people who have passed basic weapon training are allowed to sell them. That's store policy." She left out the bit where she failed to even lift most of the swords they had in the store, and therefore failed her weapon training.

"Well then find me someone who can!" The Galka bellowed.

"Fine." Vivli grumbled.

"And I'm reporting you to your manager!" He added in a roar. Vivli just sighed, and wandered into the back of the store.

"Ninias!" Vivli called out. A young natural blonde (unlike Vivli) Mithra stuck her head around the corner.

"What now?" She snapped irritably.

"I need you to sell a sword to some moany Galka." Vivli sulked.

"Don't talk of the customers that way!" Ninias snapped. "Fine. I'll deal with it. Your shift ends in five minutes. Just go. It's not like you're any use around here."

Vivli stared at Ninias in disbelief for a moment, and looked a little teary, before turning around and walking out with a sigh. She grabbed her light blue jacket hanging from one of the hooks and threw it over her red store dress, and wandered out miserably. It was bad enough that working in the store was boring, let alone all the times she'd get shouted at by Ninias or customers.

She wandered out into the busy Windurst street, and decided to head for home, a small flat she was sharing with a visiting Hume. Not that she ever saw him, because he was an adventurer. He was out having adventures all the time, making money, having fights, leading an exciting life. He had offered to take Vivli along with him one time, but she was far too scared. Even when he promised he'd protect her, it was just too scary. There was no way she was going to leave the city while monsters were outside.

No. Adventuring wasn't for her. Her destiny was in that stupid shop.

It didn't help that she had a ridiculously huge crush on the guy. It made her all jittery around him, and in her attempts to not sound like she was too obsessed she'd always say no whenever he offered anyway.

She was almost knocked down as a group of Mithran guards rushed past her, and she cursed herself. She couldn't even walk down her own street without nearly getting trampled. No wonder she couldn't go adventuring. But she trusted Zinkata, the Hume she lived with. Maybe she could…

Maybe this time, she would say yes.

"Excuse me, ma'am." A Mithran guard stopped Vivli outside her door, and Vivli snapped out of her thoughts.

"Urm, yes?" Vivli asked curiously.

"Do you live here?" The guard asked. Vivli nodded uneasily. "It is my sincere regret to inform you that the other resident of this abode was slain in combat. I am sorry for your loss." The guard repeated in a business like tone.

Vivli fell entirely silent in shock for a moment. Zinkata was dead? He'd got himself killed adventuring?

She stayed frozen for a moment, felt every emotion, from relief of the escape she had by not going with him to the blind fear of how vulnerable she must be if even Zinkata can die.

And then she did the only thing she could do.

She burst into tears.


	8. Vivli Tails 8

**The Garuda Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

"Finally!" exclaimed Zinkata as dinner was brought to their table.

Vivli immediately grabbed the small Mithran tomato and took a bite. It seemed like it had been so long since she had last tasted one. She glanced at the bowls that had been placed in front of them. "What's this?" she asked.

"Wild sheep stew," replied Zinkata eagerly.

"Aaah, poor little sheep."

"Not so poor little sheep!" he exclaimed, a bit too defensively, "Those things can get pretty nasty when they're aggravated."

She noticed that he was subconsciously rubbing a long scar on his arm. So that was how he got that, she realized with a laugh.

He glanced at her. "What?"

"You said you got that in a run-in with a bunch of goblin bandits."

He glanced at the scar. "It... it was!" he stammered, quickly adding, "It happened just as I was hunting a wild sheep for dinner!"

She grinned broadly, trying to contain her laughter. "Rrriiiight."

He shook his head, swallowing a spoonful of stew. "Hmph. I don't care if you don't believe me."

He was silent for a moment, before he finally added, "I was just hunting for sheep one day, minding my own business, when I was suddenly set upon by four or five massive Orcs!"

It took all she had not to spew her mouthful of stew with laughter. She stared at him. "Four or five?"

Zinkata shrugged. "Well, it had all happened so fast that I lost track in the confusion of battle."

She was still grinning. "And they're Orcs now? What happened to the goblins?"

He thought quickly. "I meant goblins. Yeah. Four or five goblins."

"Massive goblins?" she giggled.

He glared at her. "Fine," he growled, "The sheep bit my arm and wouldn't let go. You happy now?"

"Ecstatic!" she announced with glee before having another spoonful of stew.

She truly was. She had been so depressed before, feeling scared and alone, her first time in a new city. San d'Oria was quite overwhelming for newcomers, and more so for her, for she missed her home so dreadfully. She had been in quite a funk for the past several days, wandering the streets, not sure what to do or where to go.

Then she met Zinkata.

Actually, he had attempted to rob her. He was a thief, after all.

He held her at knife-point and demanded she hand over all her money. She was already consumed by her depression at this point, and the abject terror that flooded through her resulted in Vivli just finally breaking down, sobbing and crying uncontrollably as she lay curled up on the ground.

Zinkata had felt so bad that he apologized profusely, trying to comfort the little Mithra.

She had gotten to know him since then, and discovered that he was actually a very decent Hume. He had done so much for her, trying to make up for what he had done – including taking her to dinner tonight.

She still felt rather embarrassed by her reaction. She was a Mithra, well-known for their agility and fearlessness. Yet she was pathetic, weak and scared of practically everything. She had no combat training, no skills that could help her in battle. She was only a white mage, and even at that she felt grossly inadequate.

And she wanted to become an adventurer...

Vivli returned her thoughts to the present, to the dinner set before her. She felt so good tonight. No point in ruining this feeling thinking about those things right now. Just enjoy the moment.

A rather tall lanky Elvaan who was leaning against the doorframe of the pub's entrance provided an unintentional source of entertainment, as he proceeded to hit on every female that went past, regardless of their race. It came to the point when Vivli could actually count the seconds between his suggestive greeting and the resounding slap across his face that eventually followed.

By far the highpoint of this pathetic display, however, was when a tiny Tarutaru somehow managed to slap him fiercely across the left cheek, leaving a small cut on the side of his nose.

"I didn't quite see that," laughed Zinkata, "Did she jump, or climb up him?"

Vivli was unable to give a coherent answer, for she was already laughing uncontrollably.

They had apparently caught the Elvaan's attention, for he glared at them as he strode over to where they were seated. Vivli immediately ceased her laughter, slouching down in her chair and cowering behind the edge of the table.

"Do you find me amusing?" he asked angrily.

Vivli had to admit that she didn't find him to be all that particularly amusing at the moment, especially with the rather large sword situated on his back.

Zinkata, however, was not as intimidated. In fact, it seemed that he was actually laughing harder.

"I do!" he admitted, attempting to reduce his laughter enough so he could talk, "Of course, I'm so drunk that I'd very likely find anything funny." He stopped suddenly as he noticed that one of the Elvaan's ears was slightly bent downwards. That sent him into further hysterics, proving his point.

The Elvaan apparently wasn't very amused, as indicated by his sudden rash decision to reach over his shoulder for the hilt of his sword.

He barely had a grip on it when he suddenly realized that Zinkata was now on his feet, holding the blade of a small ornate dagger against his throat.

The Humaan wasn't laughing anymore. In fact, he didn't even appear to be really all that drunk.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, friend," said the thief, almost casually.

The Elvaan glared at him, but otherwise slowly released the hilt of his sword, lowering his arm.

"I don't think we could ever be friends," he replied coldly, "I despise thieves."

Apparently the Elvaan wasn't the only one. The bartender had sent someone to bring the local authorities, finally having the excuse he needed to be rid of this unwanted customer.

Zinkata came to the abrupt conclusion that perhaps it was best if he made a strategic withdrawal.

He flashed a grin at Vivli, still cowering behind the table. "See you 'round, cutie." Then he winked at the Elvaan. "Perhaps in another life, eh, Bent-ear?"

With that parting shot, he was gone, fleeing out the door into the streets of San d'Oria.

It looked as if the Elvaan briefly considered giving chase, but opted against the idea due to the late hour. He glanced at Vivli. All he could see were her eyes and ears behind the table top.

"You were with him?" he asked.

"Urm, not really," the Mithra replied in a small nervous voice, "We just met the other day. He was showing me around the city." She chose to leave out the part of him trying to rob her.

The Elvaan nodded, satisfied enough with her answer to lean forward over the table.

"The name's Voldos," he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively, "How're you doing?"


	9. Vivli Tails 9

**The Atomos Dimension **(by author EJyPt)

Vivli searched through the treasure chests for the now familiar blue dragon amulet. She was aware of the mysterious black and crimson cloaked man watching her from the carriage entrance.

This was the third time now that she had attacked the same Elvaan escort in the forest of West Ronfaure. The ground outside the chocobo-drawn carriage was littered with their bodies. She did not know why the dark robed man wanted more copies of the same amulet, for he had requested that she retrieve it from the carriage every time.

She did not really care enough to ask, however, for her thoughts lay elsewhere.

"Where am I?" she had asked quite suddenly.

"You know where you are," replied the cloaked man.

"Where am I in _this_ world?"

He glanced at her. He had not quite been expecting that. She was actually aware of the basic concept of alternate dimensions.

"Well, well," he said with a chuckle, "You certainly fell far from the Orc tree, now haven't you?"

"Orc tree?" she echoed, moving on to the next chest in her search.

"I do not know where you are in this world," he told her, "But be rest-assured that she is nothing like you. She is insignificant. Worthless. Corrupted by the Light. You are unique. Special. You have an important destiny."

"To drive back the blinding Light and bring Darkness back to the world," she recited.

"You need not concern yourself with anything else."

She seemed content enough with that answer, moving aside a large curved scimitar that was obstructing her search of one of the treasure chests.

The sight of the sword brought a sudden thought to the cloaked man's mind. He glanced around the interior of the carriage and noticed a large ornate mirror lying on its side and covered with a thick protective sheet of cloth.

"That reminds me," he announced, climbing into the carriage, "I have something for you."

He lifted the mirror upright, the cloth falling away, and rested it against the interior wall. Then he took a step back and removed a strange object from within his cloak. He held it towards the mirror and chanted an odd elaborate spell.

After a brief moment, the surface of the mirror seemed to ripple, much like the surface of a lake. There was a slight glow surrounding the mirror, and what appeared to be a sword materialized within the reflection. The dark cloaked man reached a hand into the mirror, passing through its surface as easily as if it were made of liquid.

It was not the mirror that was enchanted, for it was merely an old Elvaan artifact. Rather, it was the sword itself.

It had been cast long ago into the Nameless Void.

Time itself held no dominion over this inter-dimensional realm. An object sent there for safe-keeping or quick disposal remained there complete and intact, in a sort of suspended animation. It could then be retrieved by anyone, anywhere on any world, at any point in time – providing they knew what was required to release it. This timeless void could be accessed from any clear reflective surface. A mirror worked best, but the surface of a clear body of water, such as a lake, worked just as well.

It was rumored that the twin swords of Excalibur were hidden somewhere within the Nameless Void. However, the black cloaked man was more intent on the retrieval of this particular sword.

Vivli did not seem very impressed by this amazing display. She merely watched as he turned away from the mirror and handed her the sword.

"This is for you," he said simply.

"I like my claws," she replied, referring to the metal gauntlets she used that were outfitted with long thin sharp blades.

"Trust me," he told her, holding the sword towards her, "You'll really like this."

She took the sword from him and held it in her hand, turning it slowly to examine the unique elaborately stylized blade.

Vivli felt a sudden rush, a warm electrifying charge that spread throughout her body. The Shadow energy within her extended itself to the sword, in turn making the weapon feel as if it were an extension of herself. She was not just holding a sword. The sword was a part of her.

It felt as if a lost part of her had finally returned. That she was finally whole.

The blade hummed with power, yet it was not an audible reaction. She felt its gentle humming within her mind. It was a rather soothing, melodic experience.

She stood there for a moment, letting the sensation wash over her. Then she suddenly realized that it wasn't actually humming at all.

The blade was _singing_ to her.

**Addendum: And so ends Vivli Tails. Obviously, it's not the ultimate end. It was merely a prelude. First part of a prelude, actually. I shall soon follow it with a second, similar type of prelude, then finally move on to the main story.**

**The author known as Vivli did not leave any author notes for me to post (she seems to like that sort of thing), but if she had, I'm sure it would have gone something like this:**

**Thank you all for showing interest in our story. Eat healthy and be kind to others.**

**Except it would have been written with an obvious english accent.**

**Then she would no doubt have gone on to add that those of you who have not yet checked out her stories, The FFXI Chronicles, should do so immediately, for due to the hidden subliminal messages embedded within her works, her devious plans for complete world domination shall soon proceed.**

**To those who have already read them, the sleeper programs hidden within your memory shall be activated upon reading the words cow patty.**

**Remain seated in front of your computers. You will receive further instructions the very moment her recent story is updated.**

**That is all.**

**Ending transmission in...**

**0003**

**0002**

**0001**

**0000**

**Thank you... and Namaste.**


	10. Saskya Tails 1

**II: Saskya Tails**

_(originally posted 07-31-06)_

**The Garuda Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

For the first time in her life, Saskya left home not knowing when she would return.

The young Mithra felt both excited and scared, two such extreme countering emotions that twisted her stomach in an anxious knot and left her feeling rather queasy. The fact that she was about to embark on her first airship ride did not do much to ease her mind. Or her stomach.

It was an emotional farewell at the airship docks in Kazham.

The gentle waves of the Pamtam Straits sparkled in the light of the evening sun as the majestic airship lowered itself to the water. Despite being a sight that had never failed to fill her with awe each and every time she witnessed it, Saskya barely gave the airship a second glance as she turned to the Mithra whom had raised her.

Her mother was a tall imposing figure with short silver hair. The striking lines of the tribal marks that ran along the gentle features of her face never wore thin, yet Saskya had never in her entire life seen the older Mithra reapply the traditional paint.

There were quite a large number of people on the docks that evening, waiting to see her off. That made her rather uncomfortable, for she had asked that no one else be told that she was leaving. She did not like goodbyes.

However, news of her departure had apparently leaked out, as most news invariably does in such a small community. She glanced at the faces of the surrounding crowd and realized that nearly everyone she knew was there. Everyone, that is, save one.

"She never came?" asked Saskya, although she did not expect a reply. The answer was painfully obvious.

Her mother shook her head slowly, but otherwise said nothing. She merely gave her a light kiss on the forehead and a final affectionate scratch behind her ear. Then she handed her a small simple box with an attached letter instructing her not to open it until she was well on her way to Jeuno aboard the airship.

Her mother did not like goodbyes either.

The two Mithra stood for a moment, staring at each other in silence, until the final call for boarding rang out. Saskya's tail twitched slightly. The anxious knot in her stomach felt a little tighter.

"The airship is about to leave," her mother said quietly.

Saskya nodded. Perhaps too quickly, for her head was ringing slightly afterwards.

"I...," she began, then stopped. Words failed her. It was as if there was a weight within her chest, pulling down her heart. This feeling confused her. There was no reason for it.

She had been raised a Red Mage, trained in the arts of both white and black magic. She was also an expert swordswoman, proficient in the use of a thin-bladed sword. She had gone to battle many times, facing death in the form of the beastmen that threatened their land.

Yet she had never felt like this.

"I love you," she said finally.

Her mother smiled, yet it did not hide the sadness in her eyes.

At that moment, Saskya realized that her mother had this feeling as well. Then, almost immediately after, she realized what that feeling was.

They both believed that this was the last time they would ever see each other.

"I'll come back," she promised, stepping forward to give her mother an embrace. She struggled to maintain the confidence in her voice, yet she was unsure whether it was for her mother's benefit, or her own.

"Of course, kitten. I'll be waiting."

Saskya stepped back and raised a hand to brush aside the strands of red hair that had fallen over her eyes, using the motion to cover the fact that she was actually wiping away a tear.

She turned and strode towards the airship, once again searching the faces of the crowd around her. They were all waving for her attention, their smiles beaming as they said their farewells and wished her luck.

Yet there was still no sign of her younger sister.

With a heavy sigh, Saskya boarded the airship and began her journey.

She was traveling to San d'Oria. Once there, she would become a citizen of that kingdom, in answer to the call for adventurers to assist in serving the needs of the King and drive back the hordes of Evil that threatened their world.

She knew it would have most likely been best if she were to go to Windurst instead, as so many other Mithra had before her. She would no doubt be more welcome there, and not feel so out of place as she likely will be amongst the tall, arrogant Elvaan of San d'Oria.

However, she was compelled to go to San d'Oria, driven by an unknown force that she couldn't fully explain or identify. She just knew that she had to do this. It was her chosen path. Her destiny.

It had come to her within a _dream_...

During the flight to Jeuno, after Saskya's nerves had settled sufficiently enough for her to realize that she did not suffer from air travel sickness, she found a quiet secluded spot aboard the airship and opened the box given to her by her mother.

Inside, she discovered a small silver pendant. It was in the shape of a single wing, inset with a small green crystal orb. There was something about it that suggested that it wasn't quite whole, that it should connect to another wing, with perhaps another jewel.

Half of it was missing.

Saskya read the letter her mother had written. When she had finished, she just sat there for a long moment, in stunned silence.

Then she read it a second time.

By the time the airship had arrived in Jeuno a short while later, she had read the letter twenty-seven times. There was only one thing on her mind as she disembarked. She had to speak with her mother.

She knew it would be a waste of time and money to fly back to Kazham now. It had taken a long time to save up the gil for this trip. If she went back home, it would be longer still until she could leave for San d'Oria again.

Perhaps she should purchase a LinkShell and send a pearl to her mother by courier. There was still quite a bit of time before the airship to San d'Oria arrived. She would probably be able to find a LinkShell merchant, then run to the auction house and give a pearl to the local delivery courier service. She'd be back at the docks by the time the airship set down.

This plan seemed simple enough as it went through her mind.

However, when she left the airship docks and stepped into the city of Jeuno for the very first time, she realized that it was not going to be all that easy.

Jeuno was immense. Its sheer size was very overwhelming and intimidating to an island girl like Saskya. It was overcrowded and bustling with people of every race and nationality, the central crossroads of the three major nations of Vana'diel. She had no idea where she would even start looking for a LinkShell seller.

Perhaps she should just wait until she arrived in San d'Oria, she thought. She did not want to miss her flight.

Yet she really needed to speak with her mother.

Despite the fact that she now knew the Mithra whom had raised her was not truly her birth mother, it felt odd calling her anything else.

Saskya paused as a recent memory brought forth a sudden realization.

_She had known..._ Her little sister had _known_...

It had been a few days before. Her sister was practicing with her throwing knives in the homemade target range she had set up outside their hut. Saskya sat lazily nearby, watching her.

"Why do you have to go to San d'Oria?" her sister had asked, not for the first time. Her bluish-silver hair fluttered in the gentle breeze as she let fly the first dagger.

It struck her intended target dead-on.

Saskya had always envied the fact that her sister and mother were so much alike, from their appearance to their personality, while she herself was so different, her bright red hair a noticeable contrast from the other two. She had always assumed it was a trait she had inherited from her father.

She had never met her father...

"Because it's where I choose to go," she replied. She did not really have a reasonable answer.

Her sister grunted as she threw two knives simultaneously with one hand. Each struck a separate target within their marked center.

"Why don't you choose to go to Windurst, then? Why do you have to go so far, to be with those stupid elves and their foolish king?"

Saskya didn't know what to say. How could she explain the feelings that had brought her to that decision? How could she tell her why it was more important to go to San d'Oria than to travel to Windurst with her own sister? How could she explain anything when she didn't truly understand the reason herself?

Her sister had at least known how she had come to her final decision.

"Your damned dreams," she growled, swinging both hands forward at the same time, releasing the remaining knives she held. Two hands full, five knives, struck the largest target simultaneously, forming a perfect circle around the center.

"Aki, please," began Saskya.

Her sister glared at her. "My name's Miiake." she said as she turned away, leaving her knives stuck in the wooden targets. "Only my sister calls me Aki. You're _not_ my sister."

She had known... Miiake had known...

Saskya realized she had to hurry if she intended to find a LinkShell merchant before the San d'Orian airship arrived. She just hoped she wasn't going to get lost in this massive town.


	11. Saskya Tails 2

**The Ragnarok Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

For the first time in her life, Saskya left home not knowing when she would return.

The young Mithra felt both excited and scared, two such extreme countering emotions that twisted her stomach in an anxious knot and left her feeling rather queasy. The fact that she was about to embark out into the world for the first time since the WorldShift did not do much to ease her mind. Or her stomach.

The planet had changed so much since the mysterious cataclysmic event that literally altered the face of Vana'diel forever. It had happened three years ago. The earth had trembled with such force that it seemed the very planet was being torn apart from the inside. Ablaze with a fierce light, the skies themselves screamed such a deafening unholy sound, and the waters of the seas were actually pulled up into the atmosphere.

When it was finally over, the world of Vana'diel had been transformed. The lands were scarred, torn up. Entire land masses and cities were gone, to be mysteriously replaced by alien landscapes or strange cities inhabited by beings that the world had never before seen. Every body of water, from the smallest pond to the most expansive ocean, was now inexplicably suspended high above the planet's surface, forming a massive Sky Ocean that completely surrounded Vana'diel.

The event was so sudden and so profound that it became known worldwide as the WorldShift. Even the calendars had been altered to reflect the impact of this devastating change.

It was now 3 AWS, the third year After the WorldShift.

It was an emotional farewell at the entrance to the small village where Saskya had been raised.

The glittering surface of the Sky Ocean sparkled high in the upper atmosphere as the light of the evening sun filtered through the dense layer of liquid. Saskya barely gave it a glance as she turned to the couple whom had raised her.

Despite the fact that they were not her true birth parents, it felt odd calling them anything else. They had taken care of her for as long as she could remember. She had even known at a very young age that she was different. It had been quite obvious to her, in fact. She had small pointed ears and a tail. She was Mithra, her parents were Humaan. It never bothered her. She never even thought to ask of her true heritage.

This was her home. This was her family. Why would she need anything else?

There were quite a large number of people standing nearby, waiting to see her off. That made her rather uncomfortable, for she had asked that no one else be told that she was leaving. She did not like goodbyes.

However, news of her departure had apparently leaked out, as most news invariably does in such a small community. She glanced at the faces of the surrounding crowd and realized that practically the entire population of the village was there.

She smiled as she searched the faces of the crowd around her. They were all waving for her attention, their smiles beaming as they said their farewells and wished her luck.

A hulking Galka stepped forward and addressed her.

"So you're actually going," he stated casually.

She couldn't help but laugh. Despite his rather intimidating stature, Fernglaser had always made her laugh, most often than nought just by standing there. She couldn't explain why.

The Galka usually acted as if he was annoyed by her laughter, as he did at that moment, although she knew he was not.

"Yes, Fern," she replied, "I have to do this."

He nodded. "And I must go with you. He was my friend."

She would have preferred to go alone. Despite his apparently firm stand to not take no for an answer, she knew Fernglaser would step back and respect her decision if she chose to go without him. Yet she discovered that she was not entirely against his help.

Vana'diel was a new world. She had no idea what she would face out there.

She smiled again. "Of course, but don't expect me to pay you for your services as a bodyguard."

He grunted, bending down to retrieve the bundle containing his meager possessions. Apparently he had already prepared for this trip. "You're a big girl now. Protect yourself."

Saskya laughed as Fernglaser climbed into the chocobo-drawn carriage that had been waiting nearby. She turned to her parents to say her dreaded farewell, embracing them both.

"I'll bring him back home," she promised them.

She made one stop before allowing the carriage to begin its journey through the valley that led to the nearest town. The small graveyard located just outside her village.

She approached the statues that stood in the center of the graveyard. One was of a tall man, dressed in the elaborate armor of a Dragoon, and the other was a young Knight, holding aloft a mighty sword.

The sword that had defeated the merciless Ice Dragon all those many years ago, before the world had shifted.

These two heroes had saved the village ten years ago. They had been lost in the battle against the Dragon that had claimed the mountains nearby. Yet they were not buried here, in this graveyard, where their own statues commemorated their heroic deeds.

Their bodies had never been found.

Her heart ached as she stared at the statue of the young Knight. He was the true-blooded son of her Hume parents. He had watched over her like a brother, and had never once treated her unkindly.

When the Ice Dragon came a decade ago, burrowing its nest within the mountain top, it brought with it a frigid cold that froze the entire area, blanketing the unsuspecting village in such extreme low temperatures never before experienced. The land froze, and crops died. The village was surrounded by the mountain range, the valley that was the only exit frozen over by a large wall of ice. A fierce blizzard constantly raged overhead, discouraging any attempted help by airship. The village was completely cut off from the outside world. Its people would have been doomed to freeze to death if a small group of heroes had not climbed the mountain and faced the Dragon within its cavern.

Two were lost while the others escaped. Her beloved Knight had dealt the final blow, sacrificing himself to allow his friends to flee. With the death of the Ice Dragon, the enchantment that held the entire area surrounding the village was dispersed. The winds calmed, the ice melted, and the people were saved. All indication as to what happened rapidly faded, with the exception of the cave lair atop the mountain.

When the young Knight dealt that final blow, the Dragon released a sudden burst of energy, a massive wave of ice that completely froze solid the entire interior of the system of caves within the mountain. Despite the return to warm weather in the village below, the cold surrounding the mountain caves remained constant to this day, keeping them frozen solid.

Saskya had refused to believe that he was dead. She vowed that she would save him, that she would bring him home. She had even climbed the mountain all those many years ago, but was unable to go any further than the frozen entrance to the cave. It had been Fernglaser who later picked her up from where she lay crying and shivering at the top of the mountain. He gently carried her down the mountain path, not saying a single word.

Fernglaser had been one of the heroes that had fled.

Saskya had only been nine years old at the time. Now, ten years later, it was harder to hold on to the belief that he was still alive. The system of caves remained frozen at a constant temperature. Several of the villagers had attempted to cut into the ice, to reopen the tunnels, but it was so cold within that they could not continue very far without succumbing to the frigid temperature.

Her hope had severely diminished over the years. All she could hope for now was to explore this new world for a way to dig the Knight out of the ice cavern so she could at least return his body home and finally lay him to rest.

_She would bring him home._


	12. Saskya Tails 3

**The Cerberus Dimension** (written by authors EJyPt and Vivli)

Saskya stumbled through the ruins of the once great city of Windurst. Bodies were littered everywhere, yet despite the fact that she was searching for someone, she could not bring herself to even look at them. She did not want to think that her sister was here, among the dead. She held on to the hope that she was still alive, in hiding somewhere safe.

If she was dead, then Saskya didn't even want to know. It was the only shred of hope that kept her going in these dark times.

Once again, her heart was pained with the regret of going to San d'Oria to become an adventurer, instead of traveling with her sister to Windurst. She cursed her dreams, the source of her misguided ideas of glory and destiny. She should have listened to her heart. To her young sister's pleas.

But it was much too late now.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a small group of figures running past her through the ruins. The ragged group of survivors were desperately attempting to flee from a band of demonic creatures who were rapidly closing in on them. They finally stopped, and she realized that they were going to give up. They had lost all hope. The refugees – children, women, and men of every race – turned and surrendered.

The demons closed in, their thick black scales gleaming and their red eyes glaring from out of the darkness. Their wings were spread high and their sharp talons were ready as they prepared to strike down the hapless victims.

A sudden blinding wall of white light struck the creatures and they staggered back.

"Run! Now!" Came a sharp command as a Mithra leapt from atop one of the nearby ruined buildings, landing amidst the enraged demons. One swung for her, but she ducked under its claw and kicked it back, turning and blocking an attack from another.

"Who are you!?" Cried one of the survivors.

Saskya shook her head as she began running away from them. Now was not the time to be asking stupid questions, she thought.

"I'm Vivli." The Mithra managed to sigh, before kicking another demon back and blasting another away with white magic. "And now would be a good time for you to run."

The refugees did so, and Saskya suddenly realized that they had apparently chosen to follow her. Since they had not seen her before, perhaps they had assumed she was with this Vivli. Whatever the reason, she led the refugees through the ruins until they heard a sudden voice call out to them.

"In here!"

She skidded to a stop, and dove into a ruined building. The group followed her as a battered looking Tarutaru appeared and guided them down a secret passage. The young Taru was female, her hair so long and tangled that it nearly engulfed her. She led the group in silence, through dug out tunnels beneath the ruins, until one of the refugees approached her.

"Who are you guys?" He asked curiously. Saskya found herself slightly annoyed at the fact that he seemed to be including her in his query.

"We're the resistance." The Tarutaru replied. "I'm Remasa. Resident healer. Vivli you've met. I'll introduce you to the others later."

"Resistance? I didn't think anybody was left." The young man, a Humaan, sighed in awe.

"When Chaos rose we all thought it was the end of the world. We were mostly right." Remasa sighed. "But some people just wouldn't give in. They found me, I didn't find them. We've been fighting ever since."

"You think you can win?" A startled female Elvaan spoke up from the group.

"I think we can survive." Remasa replied.

"I'm Doyle." The male Hume introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you." Remasa replied. "You made it this far. All of you. That means you ain't weak. We may have use for you." She explained to everybody else, before the rest of the introductions could get going. "But if we do, you're gonna have to be ready to fight."

"We'll always be ready." The Elvaan nodded. "I'm ready to fight these guys."

"We all are." Doyle agreed.

"Good!" Remasa declared, as they continued along the tunnel.

Saskya sighed. She was almost dismayed at the fact that she herself was not ready. She didn't want to fight. She was tired of fighting. She only wanted to find her sister.

A while later, she was seated on an old makeshift wooden bench in the corner of a cavern that the resistance was using as a temporary hideout. She had examined the faces of the others, but her sister was not among the group. After her failed search, she had sat herself down, depressed.

A few of the others had attempted to start a conversation with her, but she ignored them, staring at a rather uninteresting spot on the wall next to her.

The Hume named Doyle sat nearby. He had attempted several times to get a reply from her as well, but Saskya just closed her eyes and pretended to doze.

A moment passed and she realized that she truly was dozing when she was awoken by the sound of voices echoing from the tunnels.

"Well it's not my fault you got lost!" Came a female voice.

"I wasn't lost! I got cut off!" The male protested.

"So I had to save your ass again?" The female questioned.

"No! I had it under control!" Came the response.

"Sure looked it!" The female spat sarcastically.

Saskya glanced at the entrance as Vivli appeared, accompanied by a tall male Humaan.

For the first time, she had a good look at the young Mithra who fought off the demons. Vivli was short, yet lean and muscular, with long tangled brown hair, its color mostly from dust and dirt. It was almost impossible to determine her natural hair color. She wore an eye patch over her left eye, but the scars of the three thin claw marks underneath were quite visible at the edges.

The Hume with her was a rather unkempt fellow who wore a battered brown jacket over the usual indistinct rags. He and Vivli turned their attention to the group as they entered the cavern.

"New people." He observed. "I'm Olose," he added by way of introduction, "Vivli you've met." Vivli gave them a hard stare until Olose elbowed her.

"Hi," she growled, giving them a rather small unenthusiastic wave.

"Thanks." Doyle said, moving forward to shake her hand. She stared at him suspiciously, keeping her arms folded across her chest. "For saving our lives," he continued slowly, "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Had to." She replied simply. "That or die."

"Viv was one of the four Light Warriors." Olose explained. "The four destined to stop Chaos and save the world."

"Yeah, 'cept we failed." Vivli grumbled sorely, pushing past Olose to wander off miserably down the corridor they had just came.

"Viv!" Olose tried to call after her, but she was gone. He turned to explain to Doyle. "Look, they actually saved us all. Chaos nearly literally destroyed the world, but the Light Warriors stopped him. Three of them died in doing so, and Vivli only just managed to escape. But at least we're still here. And we can still fight back."

"She escaped? How?" Doyle questioned, his thoughts still with Vivli.

Olose shot him a look. It seemed as if he was considering not to reply, until he finally said, "She ran. Chaos didn't think of her as a significant threat back then, so he let her go. Since then she's been trying her hardest to make him regret that decision."

Doyle nodded as he left the chamber, following Vivli down the corridor she had taken.

Olose stood there for a moment and grunted, before stepping further into the room to take a better look at the new group of survivors. His eyes settled on Saskya.

She, however, was not aware of his attention at that moment. She was the only one in the room who was not staring at the Humaan.

Olose walked across the chamber and sat down next to her.

She was quite aware of his presence after that, but she was still not comfortable enough to interact with anyone. So she remained silent, staring at that now familiar spot on the wall.

The Humaan sat in silence for a moment, and she briefly wondered what he was thinking. Her nose twitched slightly, for he had an odd smell about him. Not the normal scent of a Hume, she noticed, it had a slight tinge of something else. Something darker...

"It might help to talk with someone," he finally said, "Not necessarily about yourself. About anything at all, really. Whatever you want. It doesn't have to be about anything important. Just to hear someone else's voice, or even your own voice. You'd be surprised how much it helps sometimes."

It felt odd to her somehow, hearing this gentle attempt at comfort coming from someone with such a smell of darkness surrounding him. Saskya thought about ignoring him. Perhaps eventually he would go away.

However, she felt strangely compelled to talk to him.

Despite the fact that she did not trust him. Despite the stench of darkness that filled her nose. Despite her urge to pull out her sword and skewer his chest...

So she spoke.

It felt odd hearing her own voice. She suddenly realized that it had been so long since she had heard it last.

"I used to believe in destiny," she began quietly, "It haunted my dreams and consumed my thoughts with honor and...," she paused for a moment, seeking the words, "Truth." It was not the word she wanted, but she continued on. "The truth of what I wanted to do with my life. Where I wanted to go. The destiny that I believed would take me farther than ever imagined..." She choked slightly, partly from her emotions, and partly from the smell building within her nostrils. "But it took me farther than I wanted to go. It took me away from my life. From my family. And now I'm lost... I lost it all." She closed her eyes, but she was too tired, too drained to even cry. "I don't believe in destiny anymore."

Olose sat there for a moment, allowing her to regain her composure.

"Perhaps you don't have to," he replied, placing a hand on her shoulder, "So long as destiny believes in you."

She gritted her teeth. It took all she had not to knock his hand away in disgust.

At that moment, the sound of a war horn tore throughout the air. It echoed within her very mind as Olose removed his hand and rose to his feet.

"A demon war horn," he announced quietly. He hurried from the chamber, heading down the corridor Vivli and Doyle had gone.

Saskya waited until a short while later, when Vivli appeared at the entrance.

Alone.

"Come on, everyone," she growled at them, "Time to get going."

Vivli led them down another tunnel, through the network of caves. Saskya wondered if she even knew where she was leading them.

Then they heard the screams. Male screams.

Doyle and Olose.

Saskya stopped as the others rushed ahead of her through the caves, following the last Light Warrior, hoping not to be caught by the servants of Chaos.

Not fully understanding why she was doing so, Saskya turned around and headed back to where they had come. Past the chamber they had taken brief refuge within, and down the tunnel which she had last seen Doyle and Olose headed. Before reaching the exit, she saw a light brown jacket lying on the ground, folded neatly as if intentionally left out of harm's way.

When she returned to the surface, to the littered streets within the ruins of Windurst, she emerged to face an army of demons.

Doyle lay on the ground nearby, dying. Olose stood over him, glaring at the advancing servants of Evil... as he casually put his own arm back on.

Olose held his severed arm, raising the shredded bloody end and placing it against his torn shoulder. When the flesh of the two touched, the muscles joined and wove together, the bones mended and solidified, and the skin stretched, wrapping around and pulling the arm back to its original position. Within seconds, his arm had been restored. He flexed its muscles a few times, yet there was no indication whatsoever that it had just been torn off. It had completely healed.

Saskya did not have time to wonder at this amazing feat, however. She sprang forward and drew her sword, casting a powerful healing spell that brought the fading Doyle back from his near-fatal brink of death.

Olose nodded to her with a teeth-gritting grin, as Doyle quickly got to his feet with a sword in his hand.

"Thanks," he said quickly, but there was no more time for pleasantries as the demons closed in around them.

Olose chose to be anything but pleasant as he stepped forward to meet them, literally changing with each step. His height rose to well over seven feet tall, his hands stretched to long taloned claws, thick fur rapidly grew over every inch of his body, and his face contorted to that of a snarling fanged beast.

He effortlessly tore apart the first two demons unfortunate enough to come within his reach.

Saskya had heard stories of werewolves during her youth. Everyone had. Yet she had always believed that they were merely stories. Fairy tales.

Until that very moment, as the creature that had once been a man tore with tooth and claw through the horde of demonic beasts.

Saskya and Doyle fought superbly side by side, the Mithra stepping back occasionally to cast a life saving cure spell when the need arose. However, there was no denying the fact that the true damage dealt to the army of darkness was wrought by the beast called Olose.

It was not long before they realized that, despite their valiant efforts, they could not hold off the horde indefinitely. There were just too many. The Mithra and Humaan were quickly tiring of battle, and even Olose seemed to be losing the enthusiastic gusto with which he had begun his carnage.

When Saskya no longer had the energy required to even cast a basic cure spell, they realized that it would most likely be beneficial to their continued survival to turn tail and flee.

They darted in and out of the deserted ruins, attempting to lose their pursuers, until Olose led them into a small chamber hidden beneath a partially collapsed hut. Olose reverted back to his Humaan form, panting heavily as he leaned against a stone wall to regain his strength.

"I think we lost 'em," he told them.

Saskya chose that moment to step forward and raise her sword to his neck.

However, she did not count on the speed with which Doyle stepped forth to hold her back.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Can't you see?" she growled, "He's been touched by the Evil. He must be dealt with."

"But he's on our side. He's one of us!"

She glared at Doyle as she shook her head. "But for how long? Perhaps you didn't notice the fact that he just turned into an unstoppable killer! How long until he loses control and kills one of us?"

Doyle did not have an answer, yet he still attempted to continue. "But..."

Olose sighed. "She's kinda got a point." He shrugged, cutting Doyle off and attracting an odd glare. "Oh, come on." He said with an almost patronizing tone. "You must feel it."

"It?" Doyle questioned.

"_Evil_." He stated. "Something...dark...powerful. It's not just Chaos. Something has a grip on the land. Some dark entity coursing through our veins." He shrugged again. "What do you think that'll do to a werewolf, eh?" He paused, considering for a moment. "Things could get messy."

Doyle wasn't convinced. "There has to be a better way."

Saskya thought for a moment. "I could cut his heart out."

Doyle scowled. "A better way other than killing him!"

"Wouldn't work anyway." Olose chimed in. "I regenerate. You need silver."

"We need his power." Doyle continued. "Vana'diel has fallen to Chaos and we need whatever we can get to fight back! Even if his power is the same Darkness that we're fighting against. We need every advantage we can get!"

She scowled back, yet she lowered her sword. "It's not considered an advantage if at any moment it could turn against us."

Olose grinned slightly, but it was not an attempt to alleviate the severity of the situation. "Okay, easy answer. I'm gone. I'll leave. I can fight this battle on my own terms." He turned to Saskya. "If you need me, I'll be here. You can count on it. But for now, it's safer for me to leave."

Saskya did not reply. It was apparent that neither she nor Doyle were satisfied with that decision, for completely different reasons. However, they reluctantly agreed to it.

_For the time being._

With a final grin, Olose turned and was about to leave when he stopped and turned to them.

"Oh, and tell Vivli..." He said quietly, a deadly serious look in his eyes. " Tell Vivli I lll-" For a moment it looked as if he was about to say the inevitable word, until he finally finished with; "-like her eyepatch." His mouth beamed into a massive grin, he let out a cocky wave, and vanished into the darkness.

Saskya and Doyle returned to the system of caves with the hope that they would be able to catch up with Vivli and the others. Saskya retrieved Olose's brown jacket from where he had left it. Perhaps she would return it to him one day. In the meantime, she had decided to follow the Mithra known as Vivli in her quest to survive, for it at least gave her a goal to aim for, a starting point from which to continue her search for her sister.

It was better than being alone.


	13. Saskya Tails 4

**The Sylph Dimension** (written by author Vivli)

It began on one of those nights that made you glad to be indoors. You know the type. When it's so cold and wet outside and the rain thundering down on your window is so loud all you can do is be grateful that you have some warmth and comfort.

I was in my office, working on some files. It's not that I liked filing, I didn't, but I hadn't done it in so long that my desk had started to resemble a paper factory. It wasn't my fault. There's only so many times you can solve a case about a wife worried her husband is cheating on her, or a husband worried his wife is cheating on him, before you get sick of filing the damned things.

It nearly made me want to throw in the towel and quit the private detective business.

It's not that I blamed these people. I mean, hell, usually they were right. Especially the wives. They were always Mithra. And there were so few male Mithra about that could you really blame the husbands for going out and getting all the girls they could?

'Course, I say that, 'cause occasionally I wind up one of the other girls.

What can I say? I have a nice tail.

Once a client found out about that, suffice to say, I didn't get paid for that particular job.

Anyway, so you can imagine I wasn't exactly thrilled when this little fragile-looking Mithran girl wandered in out of the rain, her tiny dress soaked and stuck to her skin, and her long blonde hair doing the same.

She sniffled.

"Wow. You must really be paranoid about him." I observed. "Comin' all the way here in this weather… I mean, really, couldn't it wait 'til the morning? I'm sure if he's cheatin' on you, he'll still be cheatin' on you tomorrow."

The tiny frail Mithra looked at me blankly.

"Y-you are Saskya, right?" She asked in what was nearly a whimper.

"That's what it says on the door." I shot back, gesturing to the door to my office, with 'Saskya, Private Investigator' printed neatly on it.

"O-oh, right. Of course. Sorry." The Mithra whimpered, before sneezing.

"So, you have a name, or just the sniffles?" I asked with a sigh.

"Oh. S-sorry." She stuttered, still shaking. "Vivli." She finally said.

"Well, Vivli," I finally got up, and grabbed my long brown trenchcoat from the stand in the corner of the room, "Why don't you put this on? If you've got a case for me, I'd rather you told me before you died of hyperthermia." Vivli wrapped herself in the coat and put it around her, shivering still.

I looked her over again. Her hair was bleached blonde, not natural, and her dress was quite a pretty light blue. She had a blue hair band too, and heeled shoes. It all implied she was the fairly feminine type, liking to look nice and pretty. Meant if she was out in the rain ruining her hair and dress something major had happened.

That was my first hint this wasn't your kinda case.

"No. No need to thank me." I sighed, sitting down and putting my feet up on my desk.

"You're so mean…" Vivli replied, sounding even weaker than she looked, probably expecting a more helpful attitude.

"You have to be in my business, darling." I told her, smiling. "Helps with the income. Hard to solve a case when you're all cuddles and roses."

It also helped with the whole people-cheating-on-people cases. The rogue husbands loved it when they met someone who was dangerous and edgy. Always helped me prove they were cheaters.

Okay, so I usually proved they were cheaters when they cheated by sleeping with me, but hey, you're just reading my story; you're not supposed to be judging me.

"So, you gonna tell me what brings a frail little thing like you all the way out here in this, or do I have to guess?" I asked again, prompting the shaking Mithra.

"My friend is dead." She said a little too quickly. Maybe I should have laid off? It was clear I was making her nervous. She didn't like my attitude. But, hey, it was kinda fun.

"Oh. And how did that happen?" I asked, without a beat of sympathy. She started to cry. Okay, at that point I was feeling a bit mean.

"He…he….was an adventurer…" She wept.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Beastmen?" I inquired, my 'sorry' being about as sympathetic as someone whom had just heard somebody else had dropped their snoll gelato cone.

"N-no. I mean, yes. That's what the report said…but…" She burst into fully blown sobs, and I rolled my eyes. The weeping girl thing was almost as irritating as the whole cheating thing. "But…I don't think so…" She sobbed.

"Oh. Why?" I prompted, wanting to get it over with.

"Well…the gate guard…" She sniffed, clearing up a little. "The gate guard…he knew Zinkata…He was…his friend…And I…And I told him what had happened…and he said….he said he saw him come back….when I spoke to him…"

Here I sat up. Things got interesting. If he wasn't outside of Windurst when he died, then beastmen didn't get him. And if beastmen didn't get him…

…then something else did.

"So, you think he was murdered?" I inquired. Vivli nodded.

In a moment I was stood. I grabbed my fedora from the stand and placed it on my head, before twirling Vivli out of my coat and putting it on myself.

"I'm on the case." I stated. "I charge 500 gil a day, plus expenses. Can you cover it?"

Vivli nodded, sniffling. I had a feeling she was lying, but this was the best case I had ever had. I wasn't going to miss it. Murder. An actual, real live, murder. No more snooping on relationships, no more spying, no more rubbish jobs that pay as badly as they deserve to.

A real job!

By the end of this I'd be famous in the private eye circle. Or at least, less unknown. And less poor.

Not that I let my excitement show. I remained stoic as I looked on the whimpering young Mithra.

"C'mon kid, buck up." I advised, pulling down on the brim of my hat. "I'll sort this out. I promise." I wasn't in the habit of making promises, but I felt sorry for her, and knew this was the kind of case I had to solve.

"It's not gonna bring him back…is it?" She muttered to me with teary eyes.

"Nah. But I'll get the guy responsible. And see him burn in Hell."

With that, I turned and left. I had work to do.


	14. Saskya Tails 5

**The Carbuncle Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

An Elvaan and a Hume walked into a bar...

The punch line did not come until a short while later, when the same Elvaan and Hume walked out of the pub. The Humaan had his hands raised in a gesture of surrender, and the Elvaan had his sword drawn, guiding the man forward.

"Honestly," the Hume was saying, "I'm an idiot, alright? I didn't even know what it was. I was holding it for a friend. How was I s'posed to know it was some old Elvaan treasure?"

"Where is your friend now?" asked the Elvaan coldly.

"I told you, I don't know. She left earlier."

"Really? You told me in the pub that your friend was a 'he'."

The Hume shrugged. "He. She. Whatever. Galkas confuse me. I mean, what _are_ they, anyway?"

The Elvaan scowled. "You told me he was Elvaan."

The Humaan continued without batting an eyelid. "And you have a nice hat, by the way. It accentuates the striking points of your ears."

"Do not joke about my ears," warned the Elvaan darkly.

"Then don't talk about my mother," countered the Hume.

The Elvaan blinked. "I... I didn't... _what_?"

The Humaan glanced around and changed the subject. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"I am taking you to the city gate to ensure that you leave and never return."

It was the Hume's turn to blink in surprise. "You're not arresting me?"

"No. I believe your story."

"That I'm innocent?"

"No. That you're an idiot," came the deadpan reply.

"Now that's not a particularly nice thing to –," he cut off suddenly and pointed in a seemingly random direction, "Oh look! A rampaging sheep!"

Before the Hume even had a chance to use the pitiful distraction in an attempt to escape, a figure suddenly appeared and bumped into him.

Escape was completely forgotten as he was distracted by the rather shapely figure of a very attractive Mithra. She backed away and raised a hand to brush away the strands of red hair that had fallen over her sparkling green eyes. "Oh pardon me. I'm sorry."

She had been facing the Hume as she backed away, and apparently did not notice the Elvaan until she bumped into him as well. She turned and backed away from both of them. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"That's quite alright, milady," replied the Humaan rather suavely, "No harm done. The name's Zinkata, by the way."

Not to be outdone by this foolish rogue, the Elvaan gave what he thought to be his most charming smile as he sheathed his sword. "Take no notice of this vagrant, miss," he announced grandly, "He is but a thief. I am known as Voldos, a Temple Knight of San d'Oria."

"You're not a Temple Knight yet," scoffed Zinkata.

Voldos ignored him. "Perhaps once I have ensured that this criminal has left these city walls, I could take the time to give you a personal tour of this grand city."

"This city ain't so grand," countered Zinkata, "Why don't you come with me to Selbina and we'll spend some time by the sea, doing a little late-night fishing?"

The Mithra smiled. "While I find both your offers quite tempting, I'm afraid I have other plans at the moment. Sorry boys." She gave a quick wink and a prolonged wave as she walked away. She apparently made no attempt to hide the small multi-colored string that trailed from within her sleeve, letting it wave tauntingly with her hand.

Zinkata noticed the string, musing that it looked very much like the string he used to tie closed the small pouch of gil he carried.

He thought for a moment.

Reaching into his tunic, he discovered that the small leather pouch was gone. Realization dawned as he glanced back up at the receding figure of the young attractive Mithra.

"She stole my money!" he exclaimed, "Must've pinched it when she bumped into me."

Voldos found that to be very amusing, and the Elvaan was laughing quite heartily until he remembered that she had bumped into him as well. He went silent as he checked himself for the artifact he had taken from Zinkata within the pub.

Sure enough, the small blue dragon amulet was gone.

"Damn," he muttered.

It was Zinkata's turn to laugh. He was still staring in the direction she had gone, despite the fact that she was now long gone.

"I think I'm in love," he said aloud.

Voldos grunted. "That's because she's just like you. A thief."

Zinkata grinned. "Yeah, well, you wanted to show her a personal tour of the city, remember?"

The Elvaan apparently preferred not to have been reminded. "That was before she stole from me," he replied, "I despise thieves."

The Hume's grin got wider. "Ah, but we're such good friends."

Voldos glared at him. "We are _not_ friends."

"Whatever you say, buddy. So, what're we gonna do about that hot sexy Mithra?"


	15. Saskya Tails 6

**The Bismarck Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

She waited.

Saskya sat motionless on a large branch high up a tree in the forest of West Ronfaure, near the Elvaan city of San d'Oria. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be relaxing in the warmth of the bright sun. The only indication to the contrary, however, was that her long thin tail hung perfectly still without even the slightest twitch. A moment later, her highly sensitive ears detected a sound in the distance.

She opened her eyes.

It was time.

Voldos was bored with his assignment.

He and about a dozen other Elvaan guards had been charged with the duty of escorting a chocobo-drawn carriage from the distant fishing village of Selbina.

There had been a brief exhilarating moment of excitement as they crossed the Valkurm Dunes, fighting off hordes of attacking goblins. However, it waned considerably once they reached the plateau of La Theine. There was the occasional Orc or wandering goblin to contend with, but otherwise things were rather quiet.

He may have found it more interesting had there been any female guards along for the trip. Unfortunately, the last female Voldos had seen had been back in Selbina. Just as unfortunately, she had not been too impressed by his intentions. The memory of the stinging slap he had received could attest to that.

As it was, he was glad that they were finally nearing the city walls of San d'Oria.

He did not even know what was in the carriage they were guarding. They were told not to ask, and expressly forbidden to look inside.

He was distracted from further thought, however, when he heard a slight thud in the direction of the carriage. He turned around and glanced at the chocobo-drawn conveyance. The other Elvaan guards exchanged glances. Apparently their acute pointed ears had detected the sound as well.

However, there did not appear to be anything amiss with the carriage.

After a rather excessively long stare, Voldos merely shrugged and turned away.

Saskya suppressed a sigh of relief as she silently cursed herself.

That could have gone more smoothly, she thought.

She was on her stomach, lying as still as possible atop the Elvaan carriage. Not that it particularly mattered, for she had cast the spell of invisibility upon herself before dropping from the tree. No one could see her.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten to also cast sneak, a rather useful spell that enveloped its caster in a field of energy that absorbed all sound. Something that would have been very helpful amidst all these Elvaan.

No point in casting it now, for they were sure to notice. Especially since casting it would cancel the invisibility spell and they would then be able to see her.

Not what she wanted at that moment.

Though, she was lucky they weren't Mithra. With their acute sense of smell, she would have definitely been detected by now.

She had to hurry, she reminded herself. The invisibility spell was going to wear off soon.

There were small openings on both sides of the carriage, windows set into the doors. Saskya had not gotten a particularly good look at them, but she was hoping they were big enough for her to slip through.

Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the edge of the roof and quickly swung over the side of the carriage, squeezing through the window with barely any room to spare. She landed on her feet inside, just as her invisibility field wore off.

_Close one_, she thought with a grin.

Saskya glanced around at the many chests of jewels and artifacts recently recovered from lost ruins in the far land of Aht Urhgan, all which were supposedly lost Elvaan relics. However, what she had come for was definitely not of Elvaan origin.

She quickly searched through the chests, ignoring all items but that which she was looking for.

It wasn't long before she found it: an amulet formed into the shape of a silver dragon encircling a brilliant blue diamond. The intricate script engraved along its smooth surface was most definitely ancient Mithra.

She smiled as she ran a finger along the engraved letters.

In her excitement, Saskya had not noticed that the carriage had stopped. She did not even notice that the carriage door had just opened, and would have no doubt continued to be rather oblivious to her surroundings for quite awhile longer had she not heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Her smile disappeared as she glanced at the Elvaan in the doorway.

"Never underestimate the ears of an Elvaan," said Voldos with a grin.

Saskya remained silent. She had learned long ago not to joke about an Elvaan's ears. She still had the scar as indication of that fact.

"So," she finally said after an uncomfortable moment, "I'm under arrest, then?"


	16. Saskya Tails 7

**The Kujata Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

For the first time in her life, Saskya left home not knowing when she would return.

The young Mithra felt both excited and scared, two such extreme countering emotions that twisted her stomach in an anxious knot and left her feeling rather queasy. The fact that she was about to embark on her first airship ride did not do much to ease her mind. Or her stomach.

It was an emotional farewell at the airship docks in Kazham.

The gentle waves of the Pamtam Straits sparkled in the light of the evening sun as the majestic airship lowered itself to the water. Despite being a sight that had never failed to fill her with awe each and every time she witnessed it, Saskya barely gave the airship a second glance as she turned to the Mithra whom had raised her.

Her mother was a tall imposing figure with short silver hair. The striking lines of the tribal marks that ran along the gentle features of her face never wore thin, yet Saskya had never in her entire life seen the older Mithra reapply the traditional paint.

There were quite a large number of people on the docks that evening, waiting to see her and her sister off. That made her rather uncomfortable, for she had asked that no one else be told that they were leaving. She did not like goodbyes.

However, news of their departure had apparently leaked out, as most news invariably does in such a small community. She glanced at the faces of the surrounding crowd and realized that nearly everyone she knew was there.

While she may not have been very comfortable with the crowd herself, Saskya knew that her younger sister was really enjoying all the attention. Miiake's bluish-silver hair fluttered in the gentle breeze as she smiled and waved at the surrounding villagers. Saskya had no doubt that it had probably been Miiake who had told everyone they were leaving today.

Saskya had always envied the fact that her sister and mother were so much alike, from their appearance to their personality, while she herself was so different, her bright red hair a noticeable contrast from the other two. She had always assumed it was a trait she had inherited from her father.

She had never met her father...

Their mother stepped forward, giving them both a light kiss on the forehead and a final affectionate scratch behind their ears. Then she turned to Saskya and handed her a small simple box with an attached letter instructing her not to open it until she was well on her way to Jeuno aboard the airship.

Her mother did not like goodbyes either.

The three Mithra stood for a moment, the two younger staring at the older in silence, until the final call for boarding rang out. Saskya's tail twitched slightly. The anxious knot in her stomach felt a little tighter.

"The airship is about to leave," their mother said quietly.

Saskya nodded. Perhaps too quickly, for her head was ringing slightly afterwards.

"I...," she began, then stopped. Words failed her. It was as if there was a weight within her chest, pulling down her heart. This feeling confused her. There was no reason for it.

She had been raised a Red Mage, trained in the arts of both white and black magic. She was also an expert swordswoman, proficient in the use of a thin-bladed sword. She had gone to battle many times, facing death in the form of the beastmen that threatened their land.

Yet she had never felt like this.

"I love you," she said finally.

Her mother smiled, yet it did not hide the sadness in her eyes.

At that moment, Saskya realized that her mother had this feeling as well. Then, almost immediately after, she realized what that feeling was.

They both believed that this was the last time they would ever see each other.

"We'll come back," she promised, stepping forward to give her mother an embrace. She struggled to maintain the confidence in her voice, yet she was unsure whether it was for her mother's benefit, or her own.

If anything, it was at least not to show weakness in front of Miiake.

"Of course, kitten," her mother replied, "I'll be waiting."

"And don't worry," Miiake added, a bit too loudly, "When I become rich and famous, I won't forget all the little people."

Saskya groaned as she turned and strode towards the airship.

Miiake followed behind her. "What?"

With a final wave to the people of Kazham, they boarded the airship and began their journey.

They were traveling to Windurst to become adventurers.

Many Mithra, most notably the older ones with a firm grip on tradition and the old ways, still did not approve of the younger generation leaving their village behind to go gallivanting across Vana'diel in search of fame and adventure. But there were also many others who believed that, since the chaos of the Crystal War, it was vitally important not to lose touch with the outer world again. So Mithra were no longer shunned or looked down upon if they chose to leave their island home. Many chose to go to Windurst, where they felt more comfortable with the friendly Tarutaru than with the arrogant Elvaan or greedy Humes of San d'Oria and Bastok.

However, Saskya had always been compelled to go to San d'Oria, driven by an unknown force that she couldn't fully explain or identify. She just had a feeling that she had to go there, that it was her chosen path. Her destiny.

It had come to her within a dream...

It had been a great force of willpower to concede to her sister's pleas to go with her to Windurst instead, so far away from the Elvaan kingdom. Her family was very important to her, so her apparent destiny would have to wait.

Then again, if it was truly her destiny, then it would no doubt find a way to come and find her.

During the flight to Jeuno, after Saskya's nerves had settled sufficiently enough for her to realize that she did not suffer from air travel sickness, she found a quiet secluded spot aboard the airship to sit and open the box given to her by her mother.

Miiake had run off excitedly some time earlier to explore the airship. Saskya watched as she ran to the edge of the deck and peered over the railing. "Ha! Kazham looks so small frrrom up here!"

Inside the box, Saskya discovered a small silver pendant. It was in the shape of a single wing, inset with a small green crystal orb. There was something about it that suggested that it wasn't quite whole, that it should connect to another wing, with perhaps another jewel.

Half of it was missing.

Saskya read the letter her mother had written. When she had finished, she just sat there for a long moment, in stunned silence.

Then she read it a second time.

She had perhaps read it twelve more times by the time Miiake came by to check on her.

Noticing the expression on her face, her sister came over and sat down next to her, asking, "What's wrrrong, Sas?"

She silently handed her the letter. "Did you know about this?"

Miiake read it over and nodded solemnly. "Mom made me promise never to tell you."

Saskya stared at her.

"I guess she wanted to tell you herrrself," added Miiake. When her sister's expression hadn't changed much, she continued, "Don't worrry about it. It doesn't matter that we'rrre not related by blood. You'rrre still my sister." She gave her a hug. "That'll never change."

By the time the airship had arrived in Jeuno a short while later, there was only one thing on Saskya's mind as they disembarked. She had to speak with her mother.

She knew it would be a waste of time and money to fly back to Kazham now. It had taken a long time to save up the gil for this trip. If she went back home, it would be longer still until they could leave for Windurst again.

Perhaps she should purchase a LinkShell and send a pearl to her mother by courier. There was still quite a bit of time before the airship to Windurst arrived. She would probably be able to find a LinkShell merchant, then run to the auction house and give a pearl to the local delivery courier service. She'd be back at the docks by the time the airship set down.

This plan seemed simple enough as it went through her mind.

However, when she and Miiake left the airship docks and stepped into the city of Jeuno for the very first time, she realized that it was not going to be all that easy.

Jeuno was immense. Its sheer size was very overwhelming and intimidating to an island girl like Saskya. It was overcrowded and bustling with people of every race and nationality, the central crossroads of the three major nations of Vana'diel. She had no idea where she would even start looking for a LinkShell seller.

Perhaps she should just wait until they arrived in Windurst, she thought. She did not want to miss their flight.

Yet she really needed to speak with her mother.

Despite the fact that she now knew the Mithra whom had raised her was not truly her birth mother, it felt odd calling her anything else.

She was distracted from any further thoughts about it, however, when Miiake made a comment that something strange was going on. Saskya glanced over to where her sister was staring.

The entrance to the Air Travel Agency for the airship to Windurst was blocked by three figures in strange black armor. They appeared to be standing guard.

Her search for a LinkShell momentarily forgotten, Saskya followed Miiake to check it out.

Hands on her hips, Miiake stared up at one of the very tall guards. "What's going on?"

The black guard she had chosen replied quickly, "Entry to this Air Travel Agency is prohibited. The airship to Windurst is not in service at this time. You will have to wait for the next one. Please move along."

"Why?" persisted Miiake, "What's going on?"

A second guard stepped forward, his black armor gleaming in the sunlight. "It does not concern you. Move along now."

Miiake was about to say something further, when Saskya grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away. Miiake glanced over her shoulder long enough to stick her tongue out at the guards.

"Well," commented Saskya, "I guess we have enough time to look for a LinkShell merchant now."

Miiake was uncharacteristically silent as they walked towards the main hub of Jeuno. Saskya glanced at her after a moment and noticed that familiar glint in her eyes.

"Whatever you're thinking, Aki, the answer is no."

Miiake grinned mischievously. "Yeah? Well, y'know, I was thinking, should we do what the stupid fancy guarrrd says and wait for the next flight?" she paused, pretending to listen to a nearby voice. "What's that? The answer is _no_? Okay then!"

Saskya could read her like a scroll.

"No, Aki. We are not stowing away on the airrrship."

Miiake made a face. "Pssshh. We'll pay when we get to Windurrrst. What's the big deal? We don't know who these guys arrre. I didn't recognize their insignia, did you? Who's to say they even have the authorrrity to tell us what to do? Aren't you even currrious to know what's going on?"

Saskya admitted she was a bit curious. However, she had other worries on her mind at the moment. "You don't even know if it's going to Windurst."

Her sister groaned. "It's the Windurst airrrship. It has to go there eventually, rrright? Aaww, _c'mon_ Sas!"

They may not have been sisters by blood, but she still thought of her as her big sister, no matter what. Saskya would never trade the feeling that gave her for anything in the world.

"You know I'm gonna do it anyway," continued Miiake, "With or without your help. You can wait herrre. I'll meet you in Windurst."

Then she goes and says something like that...

"You wouldn't go alone," replied Saskya.

"Surrre I would," Miiake told her, "In fact, if you had decided go to San d'Oria afterrr all, like you've been saying all these years, then I would have just stowed away on your airrrship and snuck away to Windurst from here."

Saskya stared at her. "You would have gone through with it too, wouldn't you?"

Miiake grinned. "You bet yourrr tail, sis."

Saskya shook her head and sighed. "Alright then, how d'you suggest we sneak on board?"

Her sister was still grinning. "Well, _you'rrre_ the Red Mage."

Indeed, and as a Red Mage, Saskya was familiar with spells that could not only muffle the sounds of their footsteps, but also render them both invisible as well.

"How would you have snuck on board if you were alone?" she asked, "If I hadn't been herrre to help you?"

Miiake took a familiar fighting stance. "Using my skills as a master ninja, of courrrse."

Saskya rolled her eyes. "You're not a ninja, Aki."

Her sister's grin faded. "But I've been trrraining!"

"Teaching yourself isn't training," she told her, "You don't even know the requirements for becoming a ninja."

Miiake grunted and made a face. "Well, it doesn't matter. I would have found a way onto the airship anyway."

Saskya did not look very convinced.

"But you'rrre with me now," added Miiake, "Why bother going thrrrough all that hassle when you can just zap us with your invisible spell."

Saskya sighed again. It seemed that her sister was not going to be easily dissuaded, and she certainly wasn't going to let her go alone.

"Fine," she told her, "But whatever happens, we're staying hidden until we get to Windurst."

Miiake was grinning once again.

After finding a secluded spot away from any onlookers, Saskya cast invisibility and the sound absorbing sneak spell upon her and her sister. Then they returned to the entrance of the Windurst Air Travel Agency and hurried past the guards.

Inside the Travel Agency terminal, Saskya noticed that even the travel agents had been sent out for whatever was going on. There were only a handful of the strange black-armored guards within the terminal.

They snuck past them easily enough, and made their way outside to the airship docks, where they found several more guards near the entrance of the waiting airship. The two Mithra snuck on board.

"Now we should find a place to hide," suggested Saskya.

"We'rrre not gonna find out what's going on by hiding," protested Miiake.

"This spell isn't going to last forever," Saskya continued with a bit of urgency, "We need to hide now."

"Okay okay, don't get your tail in a twist."

They snuck past a few more guards and found a quiet corner behind several large crates in the cargo hold.

Miiake was apparently thinking about the strange guards. "Their armor is weirrrd," she commented, "Where are these guys frrrom? Aht Urhgan?"

Saskya shook her head. "I don't know. But then again, this is our first time leaving Kazham. There's bound to be a few things we haven't seen yet."

"Pssshh," replied Miiake, "Speak for yourself. I know everything."

Saskya rolled her eyes, yet she had to admit, her sister had a point. There was something strange about these guards.

Their armor appeared to be made of an odd material that she could not identify. It looked very much like metal, but it did not act or sound as metal should. They had gotten close enough to a few guards that she had discovered that it did not even smell like metal. It seemed to be thinner and not as bulky as metal armor, lightweight and conforming rather close to the shape of the body. The helmets that these guards wore were just as odd and elaborately designed. The visor covered the entire face, even the eyes, and appeared to be made of a strange type of painted glass, as black as the body armor. So black, in fact, that Saskya wondered how well the person inside could see. Neither she nor Miiake recognized the strange elaborate insignia emblazoned on the chest plate of these mysterious guards.

Miiake was anxious to explore the ship.

"Hold on," hissed Saskya, "At least wait until after the airship has taken off."

Miiake nodded. "Right. At least then, if we'rrre discovered, they can't make us leave the airship until it lands."

Saskya chose not to mention that, if they were inclined to do so, these guards could just as easily throw them off the deck of the airship while in flight.

Miiake was unable to sit still. She was so anxious to explore that her tail was twitching wildly.

"Quiet," admonished Saskya, "Stop fidgeting."

"Ha, I don't know the meaning of the word," muttered Miiake.

"Just keep still for awhile."

Miiake was silent for a brief moment. "No, seriously. Fidgeting. What _is _that?"

Saskya sighed. This was going to be a long flight. "Just be still."

Although she didn't see it, she knew Miiake had chosen that moment to stick her tongue out at her behind her back.

"You're so childish," muttered Saskya.

"And you're so grrrown up!" countered Miiake.

She glanced at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You always take things so serrriously," replied Miiake, "We'rrre Mithra. We're s'posed to be currrious and exciting and fun. We're s'posed to be fidgeting."

Saskya growled, "Well, could you at least stop being a Mithra for a moment while we're hiding illegally aboard an airship full of strange knights who may have no problem whatsoever with the idea of killing us if they find us hiding down here?"

That silenced her sister. At least for a moment.

"Do you really think they'd kill us?"

Saskya sighed. "I don't know. But I don't expect they'd be too happy to find us here."

Miiake was silent again. For all of ten seconds.

"I heard that Aht Urhgan is so large and so full of trrreasure, that even the poor people are rrrich."

Saskya couldn't help but snicker. "You hang around Alkes too much."

Alkes was Miiake's little Tarutaru friend. They spent much of their time sitting on the docks in Kazham, watching as passengers boarded and disembarked the airship. Despite the fact that he had never set foot off the island, Alkes seemed to have a lot of stories of the world beyond – especially of the exotic empire of Aht Urhgan.

"Well, he's verrry knowledgeable," Miiake said in defense of her friend.

"He's also not quite all there," added Saskya, "He was caught dancing on the roof of the hut of the Chieftainness on several occasions."

Miiake laughed, but still deemed it necessary to defend her little friend. "He was exprrressing his admiration for her thrrrough interpretive dance."

Saskya shook her head. "He was naked."

"That could be interpreted many ways," replied Miiake.

"Not all of them very good," began Saskya, then stopped as she heard a sound nearby. She cursed herself. She had just previously admonished her sister for fidgeting and talking too much, and here she was, chatting away herself.

"Quick, cast invisible again," whispered Miiake.

Saskya waved her quiet as she silently recast the invisibility spell on them both.

The sound came closer and, a short moment later, a black-armored guard walked around the corner and stopped, glancing at the area where the two Mithra stood.

By the shape of the form-molded armor, it was apparent that the guard was female, possibly a Hume. Though it was difficult to tell with that strange visored helmet.

"Come with me," the female guard said, still staring in their direction.

Saskya and Miiake exchanged glances. Since they were both within the same invisibility field, they could each see the faint outline of the other Mithra. However, no one else should have been able to see them.

Nonetheless, the guard continued. "Yes, you two. Come with me. The Commander wishes to speak with you."

"She must have rrreally good eyes," commented Miiake.

Saskya sighed for the umpteenth time. So much for the element of surprise.

By the time they were brought before the Commander within the bridge of the airship, the invisibility spell had worn off.

The Commander wore similar black armor as his guards, with the exception that his was more stylized and elaborately designed. He was not wearing a helmet, and the sisters could see that he was a dark-haired Elvaan.

"Who sent you?" he demanded.

Saskya stared at him. "No one sent us," she replied calmly.

He glanced to the guard on his left, who nodded slowly.

"Why did you stowaway aboard this airship?" continued the Commander.

"Why did you allow us to stow away?" countered Saskya.

Miiake glanced at her, confused.

She wasn't certain, but Saskya thought she saw a slight smile tug at the corner of the Elvaan's mouth. "What makes you say that?" he asked.

"If one of your guards can see us while we're invisible, then it stands to reason that they all can. And we passed a lot of guards to get on this airship," she told him, "Special visors on your helmets, I assume?"

"Something like that."

Saskya glanced at the guard to the left of the Commander. The guard whom had been eyeing them closely since they had been brought in. "And they can also detect whether someone is telling the truth?"

This time the Commander did smile, if ever-so-slightly, yet he avoided the question.

"We let you on board because we thought you were someone else," he told her, "It was a trap. So now that I've answered your question, why are you here?"

"We want to go to Windurrrst," piped in Miiake.

"You could have waited for the next scheduled flight," he countered.

Miiake was about to speak again, but a glance from Saskya kept her silent.

"My sister is too curious for her own good," she replied, "She would have found a way on board despite my objections. So I chose to accompany her rather than let her go alone."

"I cannot fault you for that," said the Commander, "However, I cannot let you roam freely about the ship either. You will be detained in a holding area until we arrive at Windurst, where you shall be handed over to the authorities."

Miiake stared at him. "You're arrresting us?" she whined.

"Do not confuse this with kindness, child," he warned, "Or mistakenly misinterpret the seriousness of the situation. My mission is of the utmost importance, above all else including the lives of myself and my men. Its secrecy is extremely vital, to the extent that, if you were to ever discover its nature – even accidentally – I would have no choice but to kill you."

Miiake gulped quite audibly.

The Commander motioned for the female guard who had found them to take them away.

"Well, that went well," commented Miiake as they were escorted from the bridge. "A bit overly melodramatic, though. I would have no choice but to kill you. What was all that about?"

Saskya glared at her.

Miiake sighed. "Yes, I know. It's my fault."

Saskya was about to reply when the airship suddenly shook violently.

The two Mithra and their escort stumbled in the corridor.

"What was that?!" exclaimed Miiake.

The guard was not particularly all that inclined to answer, since she did not actually know herself.

"Maybe if we went on deck," suggested Miiake, heading for the staircase that led up to the deck of the airship.

"Aki, no," exclaimed Saskya, as she and the guard chased after the younger Mithra. "Wait!"

When they reached the open deck of the airship, however, they all stopped dead in their tracks.

Another airship was flying alongside them.

What made the sight rather incredulous was the fact that the other airship appeared to be a regular sailing ship. It was obviously modified to fly like an airship, but its design was unmistakably that of a ship of the sea.

The white sails were billowing in the wind, as was the large black flag with an insignia that Saskya did not recognize. She knew what the flag signified, however.

Pirates.

On the very front of the ship, attached securely to the bow, was a rather large statue of a mermaid, its bright red scales glittering in the sunlight.

The Crimson Merrow.

Legends and myth. Ancient tales as old as the werewolves and the mighty Dragaara. The notoriously infamous band of pirates, the scourge of the ancient seas of Vana'diel.

Stories of the Crimson Merrow would resurface throughout the centuries, in various lands and cultures around the world. It was said that its captain was immortal, sailing the ship forward on its unending journey. Other tales rumored the captain as being undead, a vampire, or corporeal spirit bound to this plane of existence by hatred and revenge. Still others say the captain was a Lamia, sister species of the Merrow, able to cloud the minds of men and alter her very appearance.

Apparently, no one who discovered the truth lived to tell about it.

This Crimson Merrow, however, the flying sailing ship that was attacking them, was quite real.

Saskya held no delusions that this was the same ancient ship of lore. She didn't even believe the old tales for that matter. The crew of this ship were obviously using a familiar icon from a popular myth to induce fear and intimidation in their prey. This wasn't the real Crimson Merrow. If there ever was a real Crimson Merrow, it was most likely lost long ago within the tides of time.

No matter what name this airship chose to fly under, its crew of pirates were real enough to pose a threat to her and Miiake.

Saskya unsheathed her sword, momentarily wondering on the fact that the Commander had not had her weapon taken away from her upon capture. Apparently he did not deem her to be a significant threat.

Well, these pirates were soon to discover otherwise.


	17. Saskya Tails 8

**The Midgardsormr Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

San d'Oria was even larger and more intimidating than Saskya had imagined. It was a grand city, the likes of which she had never seen – with the exception, perhaps, of the city of Jeuno which she had only visited briefly during the transfer connection of her recent airship flight.

Jeuno had been exciting, crowded with people of all races and nationality, yet she did not have much of a chance to explore. She had been afraid she would get lost and miss her flight, so she had stayed at the airship docks to wait for the arrival of the airship to San d'Oria.

Now that she was finally here, Saskya was eager to begin her journey as an adventurer.

She approached a gatehouse guard and became registered as a citizen of San d'Oria. Then she asked what she could do to begin her service to the kingdom.

Apparently, the local Beastmen had become rather daring as of late, venturing uncomfortably close to the Elvaan city walls. All adventurers were required to squelch any advancement made by the Orcs into the vicinity of the area surrounding San d'Oria. It had become a sort of rite of passage, an initiation so to speak, for new recruits to pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom and begin their life as an adventurer by smashing any Orcish scouts who were found within the Elvaan realm.

All she had to do to prove her success was to return to the gatehouse with an Orc's axe.

Saskya had never before seen an Orc, let alone engaged one in battle. She wondered if she would be able to even face one on her own. She may have been a rather accomplished Red Mage, but she had fought only Goblins and various other beasts in the jungles near Kazham. She was not familiar with the tactics used by the brutish Orcs.

Perhaps it would be best if she were to seek out any fellow adventurers who would be willing to join her in her mission. She decided to roam the streets and search.

Saskya soon discovered that there had been many new recruits who arrived in San d'Oria that day. It did not take long for her to find a handful of adventurers eager to accompany her. She met them at the Westgate and together they headed out into the forest of West Ronfaure.

Kairn was a headstrong Hume who considered himself to be well on his way to becoming a great warrior. He boasted that he could most likely take on two or three Orcs on his own, but would consider it his duty to help the young Mithra, protecting her and the others.

Malchiel was a rather tall Elvaan who was learning the unique fighting styles of the monk. He carried no weapons, save for a pair of leather gloves each with a thick strip of metal tied across the knuckles.

Lelorinel was also an Elvaan, a tall slender white mage who wore an elaborately woven silver robe. Her long white hair flowed freely, with the exception of a single small braid that hung over her left ear.

The final member of her group was a large Galka known as Valley Rafter. He was also a warrior, but enjoyed feeling the raw power of his fists in combat, rather than using the large broadsword which hung on his back. Despite his aggressive strength, he appeared to be a kind and gentle soul.

The evening setting sun shone through the trees as the adventurers left San d'Oria.

"Where should we begin?" asked Saskya, glancing around the immediate area, almost as if hoping to already spot an Orc nearby.

Kairn shrugged. "We could always just take a leisurely stroll through the forest. We're bound to run into a few Orcs eventually."

"We should head towards their outpost in Ghelsba," suggested Malchiel.

Lelorinel tried to suppress a shiver but was not all that successful. "That place is just too close to San d'Oria for my liking," she said.

The Galka remained silent. He did not seem all that concerned as to where they began their mission, so long as they encountered some Orcs and he had the opportunity to deal out some pain.

He may have been a kind and gentle soul, but that in no way held him back when it came to fighting the Beastmen.

As it was, they would not encounter any Orcs that evening.

They had been walking along the path that led towards the Ghelsba Outpost when the group of adventurers heard a commotion nearby. They hurried towards the sound, wondering if they could offer any assistance.

They arrived too late.

A chocobo-drawn carriage sat in the middle of the path, surrounded by the bodies of several Elvaan guards who lay dead or dying on the ground. Amidst the carnage stood a young Mithra. She wore a type of light padded armor which was outfitted with several strategically placed lethal-looking blades. She also wore a pair of small chain-linked gloves, each with four long blades protruding from the knuckles, very much like claws.

She turned to the newcomers, the color of her eyes actually darkening as she glared at them.

Before Saskya and the others even had a chance to react, the dark-eyed Mithra sprang forward.

She cut down Malchiel and Lelorinel immediately with two simultaneous well-aimed strikes. Twirling on one foot with the grace of a dancer, she slashed out with her right claw, eviscerating the unprepared Kairn. She then leapt forward, and with a single flip high over Valley Rafter's head, landed on his back where she decapitated him with a quick powerful crossing of her long metal claws against the back of his neck.

She achieved all this within a matter of seconds, without even blinking an eye.

She leapt away from the fallen Galka and turned towards Saskya, her claws ready, anxious to tear into flesh. At the last possible moment, she hesitated, her sharp metal claws mere inches away from Saskya's face.

Saskya was in shock. What had just happened? The others are dead...

She had just met them. She never even had the chance to get to know them. And now they were gone. Her stomach twisted with a wave of grief that she never thought she could feel so strongly for people she never even knew.

Killed by this Mithra that stood before her.

Saskya noticed that there was something very odd about her eyes. They seemed to be rather dark and clouded.

What was she waiting for?

Well, she was not going to wait.

Sparks flew as steel clashed against steel, and she knocked aside the Mithra's metal claws with her sword.

The dark Mithra took a step back, and seemed to be contemplating her next move.

The rage was building within Saskya. This is insane. What was the reason for all this? What could be worth such loss of life?

The two Mithra stood motionless, glaring at each other above their raised weapons.

"Who are you?" asked Saskya, "What do you want?"

The other Mithra just stood there for a moment, staring at her.

Faster than Saskya could have possibly even thought to react, the dark Mithra became a blur as she sprang forward and tore into her.

Everything went black...


	18. Saskya Tails 9

**The Garuda Dimension** (written by author EJyPt)

Saskya awoke with a start.

Disoriented, she quickly glanced at her surroundings, momentarily unsure as to where – or even who – she was. As her dream began to fade from memory, she realized that she was still aboard the airship bound for San d'Oria.

She must have fallen asleep. The ordeal in Jeuno had apparently tired her more than she had thought. She had missed her original departure flight and had to wait for the next airship.

All because of that damned thief, she silently cursed.

It had happened a short while after she had arrived. She was in Lower Jeuno, on her way to the Auction House to search for a LinkShell merchant, when she spotted a young Mithra nearby.

Reminded of her young sister, Saskya stopped briefly and watched as the blonde girl limped down the street. Not so much that she was injured in any way, her limping was apparently due to extreme exhaustion. That, added to the fact that she was also dragging along a particularly large sword behind her.

Saskya had wondered how she could have possibly even lifted it. The great sword was almost as long as the young Mithra was tall.

Distracted by a sudden commotion nearby, Saskya turned in time to see a Hume boy run past, chased by several guards.

Quite a lively place, she had thought, as she turned her attention back to the tired Mithra. The poor girl had apparently walked straight into a tall man wearing a black hat, dropping the great sword as she fell to the ground.

Despite being in quite a hurry, the tall man turned to the exhausted girl. His features were hidden beneath his hat and a long scarf, and Saskya assumed he may have been either an Elvaan or a rather tall Humaan. He bent down to help the young Mithra to her feet. Then he was on his way again, in the direction the guards had been chasing the Hume boy.

The tired girl continued down the street, too exhausted to even realize that she had forgotten something.

The large great sword she had been dragging still lay on the ground where she had dropped it.

Saskya realized that it certainly appeared to be no ordinary looking sword, and was very likely one of great importance. She felt sorry for the young Mithra and decided that she would help her out.

As she approached the sword, however, she noticed that someone else had reached it before her. It was the male Hume she had seen earlier, being chased by the city guards.

How had he escaped from them so fast? She wondered.

Before she had a chance to stop him, he had grabbed hold of the hilt and picked up the sword.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, and decided to chase after him when he ran off down the street, dragging the sword behind him.

It wasn't long, however, before she had thoroughly lost him in the crowd. As she searched for him, Saskya wondered how he could have possibly gotten away so fast, especially while dragging along a rather heavy sword.

Of course, the fact that she was completely unfamiliar with the streets of Jeuno did not particularly help matters much.

She had been so preoccupied with searching for the thief, that she had missed her airship flight to San d'Oria.

Cursing her luck – and cursing the thief even more – Saskya had returned to the airship docks, vowing to remain seated until the next airship arrived, to make certain that she would not miss it again.

Now the hour was late as her airship finally approached the city of San d'Oria. Saskya was tired and only wanted to find a place to stay and settle in for the night.

Then first thing in the morning, she would search for a LinkShell merchant.


	19. Bonus Section

**BONUS SECTION**

**I've decided to add this at the end as a sort of tribute, or whatever you'd like to call it, to author Vivli's first scene. Originally, she had written quite a bit more than what was in the final version. She had put quite a bit of thought into it, and had a whole background story planned out. Unfortunately, it was a bit too long and did not quite fit the overall story arc, so it was mutually agreed that it should be shortened. It is unsure at the moment whether it will eventually be used or added later in any of her or even any of my stories, so I put it here in case it may otherwise disappear, never to be seen again...**

**It is as it was originally written, untouched and unedited.**

_**Vivli Tails - The Hades Dimension**_

Four warriors battled heroically against a hoard of attacking beastmen. One, a hume with short brown hair, wearing the proud armour of the paladin. Zinkata. Another, a massive thickly bearded galka, fighting with a mixture of Dark Knight scythe attacks and the styles of the old monks. Bootus. A third fired arrows from a distance, a tall dark elvaan with long black hair and a seemingly perfect aim.

The fourth?

She mostly stood away and looked scared.

Vivli, a short mithra with unusually long blonde hair, dressed in the robes of the white mage.

Worryingly, these were the four heroes known as the Light Warriors, the greatest heroes Vana'diel had ever known. They had saved the world more than once. And were known as the greatest fighting force on the planet.

"HELP!" Bellowed Vivli as an orc advanced towards her, in a way that made the others glad nobody else was watching 'the greatest fighting force on the planet' in action.

"You can handle just one!" Zinkata replied, casually blocking one of the orc's attacks and slicing him across the chest.

"How?" Vivli cried. Vivli was extremely physically weak, even for a white mage, and completely lacked any skill in close combat.

"Use your magic!" Bootus declared, catching a spear in the curve of his scythe, then spinning the weapon around and beating an orc to death with the handle.

"Oh." Vivli replied simply, before summoning up an awesome blast of white magic; Holy. It knocked the orc flying back, but only seemed to attract attention to herself.

"I'm sure she actually got stupider after her hair became blonde." Bootus grumbled.

"Guys! Help!" Vivli declared, three of the beastmen closing in on her.

Zinkata rolled his eyes, and turned to help her. As he did so, an orc let out a threatening growl, and pointed its spear at the paladin's throat.

"Oh. Thanks for that." Zinkata said simply. The orc looked confused for a moment, before Zinkata in a flash grabbed the spear from the beast and threw it at one of the orcs attacking Vivli. It shot through the beast's throat, killing it instantly (and splattering blood in Vivli's direction).

"Ew!" She declared. "Try not to kill them in a gross way!" Two arrows thudded into the other beastmen, killing them.

"How was that?" Voldos grinned.

"Thanks, Voldos." Vivli sighed.

"Pleasing ladies is my speciality." Voldos smiled smugly.

"Voldos! You have a wife now!" Bootus reminded him, erasing the smile from Voldos's face.

Zinkata ignored their bickering, and used his sword to finish off the last beastman.

"Good job everyone." He sighed, sheathing his sword.

"Everyone?" Bootus questioned. "Viv, your performance leaved a bit to be desired."

"I don't do combat!" She declared, hands on her hips. "You know that. You're meant to defend me."

"And you're meant to heal us." Zinkata reminded her gently, pointing to a cut on his arm.

"Fine. You big baby." Vivli mocked, just waving her arm and curing the paladin in a flash.

The Light Warriors were an odd bunch. Zinkata was a natural leader, and as so, was unofficially in charge of the gang. Voldos was a bit of a womaniser, but had since married and grown to have a bit more respect. Although he was still far from bright. Bootus could be a bit of a bully, but only in a playful way, he loved to tease others.

Vivli was a little more complicated. At least, she liked to think she was. Her lack of physical ability, and general distaste for violence, made her a bit of a coward at times. But she was also a very powerful white mage, and would always try to do the right thing. Everything may scare her, but come hell or high water she would face it if something was on the line.

Sadly, this didn't always shine through.

"Well, we're done." Bootus declared.

"Done?" Vivli asked in disbelief. "How do you figure that?"

"Well, we got hired to find missing people, right?" Bootus began to explain.

"And we found beastmen!" Vivli countered. "How do you figure we're done?"

"Beastmen were obviously killing the people." Bootus assumed.

Vivli looked around for a moment in disbelief.

"Bootus!" She declared. "We're in North Gustaberg! Don't ya think people would already factor beastmen into this kind of thing?"

"Fine! Make us do more work!" Bootus sighed.

"We're talking about people's lives here!" Vivli screeched in frustration.

Zinkata and Voldos exchanged a 'let's not get involved' glance.

"We could say it's beastmen, and be done with it." Bootus argued.

"No, we couldn't! 'cause that's not the real reason!" Vivli argued back.

"But they'd believe us and pay us anyway!" Bootus pointed out.

"But we have to do the right thing! We have to stop them!" Vivli was getting more angry now. "And if you won't help, I'll do it alone! Because I know you won't let me 'cause you don't want me to die."

Vivli marched off in the direction they had been heading, leaving the others behind. Voldos and Zinkata quickly followed after her.

"We supported you anyway, you know, Viv?" Voldos told her.

"So did he." Zinkata observed as Bootus followed her, chuckling at the little mithra's fury.

"I know!" Vivli snapped.

"He was just winding you up." Zinkata continued.

"I know!" She snapped again, before spinning around to face the paladin, forced to stare at him. "So why did it work?" She asked desperately.

"I'm sure he'll get his comeuppance." Zinkata said gently, resting a hand on Vivli's skinny shoulder.

And by cosmic coincidence, that was the exact moment the ground gave way beneath Bootus's feet, and he fell into a hole.

The three remaining heroes turned around slowly, and peered into the darkness.

"There is a God." Vivli whispered happily.

"Aren't you from a monastery?" Voldos asked quickly.

"Well, yeah." Vivli admitted.

"And have had direct communication with Altana?" He continued.

"Well, not direct." Vivli tried to get herself out of her comment.

"So how can you just now be deciding there is a god?" Voldos asked wildly.

"It's called a sense of humour! Look it up!" Vivli announced, once again easily wound up.

"I already have." Voldos laughed to himself.

"Hello! In pain down here!" Bootus cried upwards. "Well, not really." He added.

"He's too manly for that." Vivli mocked.

"Whoa. There's something down here!" Bootus told them. "Something…big."

"Big?" Zinkata questioned.

"You had better get down here!" Bootus explained. "I think I just found our missing people."

"Oh no! No, no, no!" Vivli backed away with her hands in the air. "It's dark! I'm not going down there!"

"Viv. Lives at stake. Remember that speech you gave Bootus?" Zinkata calmly pointed out, knowing the easiest way to manipulate Vivli.

"Fine!" Vivli grumbled, casting a quick float spell with a flick of her wrist. "But if we can't get out, I'll cry." She threatened. "Really bawl out tears. And it'll be really socially awkward! I hope you know this!"

She was a little disappointed that nobody laughed, but seemed to take this as an actual threat.

The three jumped into the hole, and floated down into the dark depths.

They landed next to Bootus, who simply gestured towards the far wall of the cavern. Interestingly, it seemed to have its own light source. Electricity was running throughout the cavern, making it easy to see. But exactly what they saw was stunning.

The far wall was a display of pods, sealed. Through the glass they could see some form of metal husk, but the glass was misty, and it became impossible to determine just what they were seeing.

"What is that?" Vivli squeaked nervously.

"I have no idea." Bootus replied. Zinkata looked around him, observing that most of the cavern was metal. Numerous buttons and levers were scattered around on control panels, both on the walls and before the collection of pods. He made a mental note not to touch them. He also noted a massive steel door to the side of them, apparently sealed.

"We're trapped." He calmly said.

"No!" Vivli protested. "We can't be!" She complained. "You promised we wouldn't be!"

"Urr, actually, none of us said that." Voldos pointed out.

"But you-" Vivli began, but was cut off by a loud metallic thump. "What was that?" She croaked. There was another one. And yet another. They continued to repeat themselves, and seemed to get louder.

"Footsteps." Zinkata whispered.

"Footsteps?" Exclaimed Bootus in shock. "Whoever it is sure has put on some weight!"

"Can I suggest fighting positions, anyone?" Voldos said casually, drawing his bow.

With a sudden crash, the far steel door flung open. For a moment, the Light Warriors could only make out a silhouette, thanks to the light coming from behind the door. An incredibly large silhouette. A gigantic humanoid form. It stepped into view, and for a moment the Light Warriors stepped back. It was entirely constructed of steel, taller than even Bootus, had hollow eyes that seemed not to hint at anything underneath and an expressionless slit for a mouth. Two massive handles rose out of its head and ran into the centre, seemingly providing power.

"It's a machine!" Gasped Vivli.

"Don't be stupid." Voldos laughed. "That's impossible."

"We'll soon see what it is!" Bootus decided, and charged at it, driving his fist into its steel body.

The entire team winced as a sickening crack filled the air, and the steel giant refused to move. It grabbed Bootus's hand, and somehow managed to twist the galka around, despite his massive strength. And then, in what seemed like a flash, a bolt of lightning jumped from its hand and ran through Bootus, causing him to fall back on the floor.

The other warriors went wide eyed.

"What the heck was that?" Vivli exclaimed. "Why does a machine know lightning magic?"

"I don't think it was magic, Viv." Zinkata said calmly. Voldos fired an arrow at the creature, but it simply bounced off its bulk. "Viv, get to work on summoning us up something." The paladin instructed. Vivli nodded, and Zinkata charged in, and swung his sword down at the creature.

The steel man blocked it without effort at first, using his own massive arm, but Zinkata attacked faster than it could move, hitting it all over with his sword while it tried desperately to block. He finally hit it over the head, and it dropped down to one knee. He stopped for a moment, noticing that his sword had failed to leave any clear dent at all on the creature. This pause was all it needed. It grabbed him by the throat and stood up again, lifting Zinkata off of his feet.

"YoU wILL BEcome like uS." Droned a strange voice all of a sudden. It was dull, almost quiet, yet very strong. It was spoken in a monotone, but not the type the heroes had expected. It almost sounded depressed, only there was such volume behind it, and a strange echo, it was impossible to sound exactly like that. And it still seemed to emphasise parts of words, yet almost at total random.

"Like 'us'?" Voldos repeated. "Who?" The monster threw Zinkata against a wall and turned to face Voldos.

"You wILL be AUGmented with our strENGTH, our BODies, OUR technology." The creature explained.

"We'll see about that." Vivli cried triumphantly as she finished her spell. "Ramuh! Go!"

In a flash of light a sudden old man appeared, with a long yellow beard, pale skin, and wielding a large staff.

"Fry him, Ramuh!" Vivli ordered quickly. Ramuh lifted up the staff, and a sudden blast of lightning flew across the room, hitting the steel giant. It stumbled back, through the door it had opened, and collapsed on the floor, jittering at though it was having a spasm. And then it stopped. "Hey! That worked!" Vivli cheered. Bootus and Zinkata got up, shaking off their wounds.

"What kind of creature fires electricity, and then is vulnerable to it?" Voldos asked curiously.

"A machine." Zinkata decided. "If you hit one of Cid's steam engines with lightning, it would completely mess it up."

"But that's a man." Vivli pointed out. "How could a man be made into a machine? Nobody has that kind of technology."

"Windurst might." Bootus suggested, peering into the other room.

The other Light Warriors joined him in seeing what was inside. A deceased tarutaru, now heavily decomposed, barely more than a skeleton. The corpse was missing an arm, as though it had been ripped right out of its socket. A skeletal arm was elsewhere in the room. There was also some form of operating table, more cogs, levers and control panels, and what looked like an old book. Vivli suddenly looked very pale. Zinkata paced forwards, and picked up the book.

"'We continue to fight the beastmen'." He read. "'But our side is losing. Will lose. We cannot stand against the Shadow Lord'. Amazing. This seems to be a journal from the era of the Crystal War. 'We must find a way to strengthen our numbers. We must be stronger than them if we are to win'."

"Flip further in." Vivli suggested. "See what you can find about this place." Zinkata did so, flipping through the old pages.

"'My prayers have been answered. Beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Beneath the grounds of Gustaberg I have discovered an ancient ruin, yet of metal. The technology here is beyond anything I have ever seen, and seems designed to improve humanoid species. I can turn us into the ultimate fighting machines. I can win this war'." Zinkata continued.

"So he found this place, and used it?" Bootus narrated for his own benefit. Vivli and Voldos nodded.

"'The Council refused to see my wisdom. They would not allow me to experiment on living beings. But they underestimated me. I took what they would not allow from our infirmary. I will give birth to my creations. Nothing can stop me. I will not allow this gift to go unused. My soldiers will know true form.'"

"Oh. He went evil." Vivli commented dryly, not in the least bit surprised.

"That's his last entry. They must have turned on him." Zinkata observed.

"It sounds like he found a way to turn people into machines." Vivli figured, feeling quite sick from the concept.

"So why didn't they turn him into a machine when they turned against him?" Voldos asked, puzzled.

"HE was DAMAged gOODS." Declared the mechanical voice, and the warriors spun around, weapons ready. "WE need FREsh boDIES to CONVert." The second time it spoke, the warriors realised it was the fallen machine that was speaking.

"But you can't go taking people's lives away from them!" Vivli protested to the machine, now realising a person was underneath. "It's wrong! Can't you feel that?"

"All OUR weakNESSES were REMoved." The creature spoke.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vivli questioned.

"All OUR weakNESSES were REMoved." The machine repeated perfectly. "EMOTION is a WEAKness."

Vivli took a step back in shock, and felt Zinkata give her a comforting hug, sensing how horrified she was.

"The process removed their emotions." She gasped. "Trapped. They're trapped. To live forever. With no feelings. No emotions. No purpose." Vivli was on the verge of tears, and even Voldos and Bootus looked sad.

"How do we stop it?" Zinkata declared to the fallen machine.

"You CANNOT stop uS." The machine droned. "OUR race must SURvive. We SHALL surVIVE."

"But to do that, you need more bodies?" Zinkata began to figure it out. "You view yourselves as a new race. A race that must survive. To do that, you must convert more bodies. You'll spread."

"THis PLANet shall bEcome LIKE uS." The machine managed to explain. The four Light Warriors exchanged a horrified look. They ran out of the room to where the pods were, only to see now that they had opened, and dozens of the machines were beginning to stir within.

"We've got to stop them!" Zinkata declared. "Viv! Ramuh, now!" Vivli quickly got to work on summoning. "Maybe, these controls." Zinkata said, trying to think of a solution. "Maybe we can use something to seal them back in."

"Will that hold them?" Bootus asked.

"Sweet Altana, I hope so." Zinkata replied. The three male warriors quickly got to work, flipping switches, while Vivli concentrated on her spell. Lights flickered on and off, sparks flew, and the machines continued to get more animated, apparently waking up from a long hibernation.

And then suddenly Voldos spun a dial and the doors slammed shut.

"Got it!" The tall elvaan declared.

"Viv! Now!" Zinkata ordered. Vivli summoned Ramuh, and the powerful summon fired a blast of lightning at the pods. It cascaded through the pods, frying everything. And then rocketed across the floor towards them.

"Float!" Vivli quickly cried, lifting the Light Warriors into the air as electricity filled the metal cavern.

"Remember kids, metal conducts electricity." Bootus said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up." Vivli hit him in the arm. "We're alright now, aren't we?" As soon as she finished that sentence, something blew in the room.

"Urm, uh oh." Voldos said dryly. "I think we broke it."

"We've got to get out of here!" Zinkata decided.

"How?" Vivli asked in desperation.

"That far wall! We'll have to climb!" Their leader ordered, and the four hurried over to it, as the complex around them began to blow, the lightning cascading through the technology, causing it to completely overload. Bootus, with an exaggerated sigh just to let her know she was being a problem, let Vivli climb onto his back, knowing that she wouldn't be able to climb out alone.

The Light Warriors scrambled out of the hole they had fallen in and ran, just as the cavern below ground exploded, causing dirt to fly everywhere (which somehow managed to land all over Vivli).

"Oh! Gross!" She exclaimed, splattered in dirt, prompting the other 'heroes' to laugh at her for extended amounts of time.

They collapsed, panting, glad their adventure was over.

"Well, I guess they were kidnapping people to convert into those machines." Zinkata summed up. "Meaning that we did what we were hired for. Let's go get paid."

"Can't we rest first?" Vivli moaned.

"Sooner we get back, sooner you can have a shower and get that dirt out of your hair." Bootus mocked.

"There's dirt in my hair?" Vivli panicked, prompting more laughter. Zinkata got up, and then pulled the little mithra to her feet. Bootus and Voldos stood up, looking weary.

"You know." Voldos began. "There's one thing I don't get."

"I'd of thought there was lots you didn't get." Vivli mocked.

"Quiet dirty-girl." Voldos shot back, enjoying Vivli's annoyed expression. "I meant, if that tarutaru guy found that technology, and didn't build it, who put it there in the first place?"

The Light Warriors suddenly fell silent. A cold chill washed across them.

"We may never know." Zinkata decided, and started heading back to Bastok.

* * *

**Saskya Tails**

**The Cerberus Dimension: Original Ending**

Saskya and Doyle fought superbly side by side, the Mithra stepping back occasionally to cast a life saving cure spell when the need arose. However, there was no denying the fact that the true damage dealt to the army of darkness was wrought by the beast called Olose.

It actually did not take as long as one would think for the three of them to thin out the horde sufficiently enough for the remaining demons to realize that it would be beneficial to their continued survival to turn tail and flee.

The last of the demons flew off into the dark sky and Olose reverted back to his Humaan form, panting heavily as he leaned against a stone wall to regain his strength.

Saskya chose that moment to step forward and raise her sword to his neck.

However, she did not count on the speed with which Doyle stepped forth to hold her back.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Can't you see?" she growled, "He's been touched by the Evil. He must be dealt with."

"But he's on our side. He's one of us!"

She glared at Doyle as she shook her head. "But for how long? Perhaps you didn't notice the fact that he just turned into an unstoppable killer! How long until he loses control and kills one of us?"

Doyle did not have an answer, yet he still attempted to continue. "But..."

Olose sighed. "She's right, boy. I'm a danger to you as much as the Beastmen. Perhaps more. I do not deny that the power given to me was borne from Evil. It's a tremendous struggle merely to keep my mind my own. To retain my sanity. I have no doubt that one day my control will slip and the beast will take over completely. After all, it's happened before..." he trailed off, but quickly shook his head and continued, "It's even harder now, during these dark times, with the influence of Evil all around. I've been given a life longer than anyone should have to endure. For it to end now, like this, would fill me with more peace than regret. It's best this way."

Doyle wasn't convinced. "There has to be a better way."

Saskya thought for a moment. "I could cut his heart out."

Doyle scowled. "A better way other than killing him! We need his power. Vana'diel has fallen to Chaos and we need whatever we can get to fight back! Even if his power is the same Darkness that we're fighting against. We need every advantage we can get!"

She scowled back, yet she lowered her sword. "It's not considered an advantage if at any moment it could turn against us."

Olose grinned slightly, but it was not an attempt to alleviate the severity of the situation. "You both make excellent points. As a temporary compromise, I suggest that I leave. Keep my distance from the survivors, only appearing when I am needed most." He turned to Saskya. "If I am turned to Evil, I'll come looking for you. Hopefully you'll be able to end the beast within me before I tear you apart."

Saskya did not reply. It was apparent that neither she nor Doyle were satisfied with that decision, for completely different reasons. However, they reluctantly agreed to it.

For the time being.

With a final grin, Olose turned and wandered away through the ruins of Windurst.

**Yes, originally Saskya, Olose and Doyle had succeeded in defeating the army, and it had been the surviving demons who fled from them. I was never truly satisfied with that ending, but I had chosen to leave it nonetheless. However, the author Vivli read the scene and pointed out that it was not a very likely outcome, and certainly not one she had originally intended when she wrote the scene in _Vivli Tails_. She feared that it made the character Vivli seem like a coward, running away with a sizable group of survivors, when the horde of demons could have easily been beaten back by just three people. A reasonably good point, so I changed it. She had also mentioned that Olose was very much out of character in his speech, and was gracious enough to rewrite his dialogue for me.**

**Again, I apologize and thank the author known as Vivli for her help.**

**The Cerberus Dimension: Alternate Ending**

**In quite the opposite vein of the scene above, I found that I wasn't quite satisfied with having the three heroes escape from the countless number of Kindred as easily as they did. The scene that the author Vivli had written in _Vivli Tails_ had meant to describe the situation as being rather bleak and hopeless. Doyle, and even the seemingly immortal Olose, were apparently supposed to have died. I had become rather fond of the scene, however, and since I came to the decision that I wanted to continue the story, I didn't want their deaths to occur so soon.**

**I had been attempting to catch up on reading Vivli's _FFXI Chronicles_ series, and had been quite far into the story of Olose, _The Twilight of the Immortal_, when I had a sudden radical idea to alter the Cerberus scene. Unfortunately, it was a bit overly convoluted and too much of a cliffhanger to have in a small scene that occurs in an alternate reality which would ultimately have no bearing or connection to the upcoming main story whatsoever. I include it here to display the maniacal madness my mind is prone to when there is just too much free time to think.**

Olose grinned slightly, but it was not an attempt to alleviate the severity of the situation. "Okay, easy answer. I'm gone. I'll leave. I can fight this battle on my own terms." He turned to Saskya. "If you need me, I'll be here. You can count on it. But for now, it's safer for me to leave."

Saskya did not reply. It was apparent that neither she nor Doyle were satisfied with that decision, for completely different reasons. However, they reluctantly agreed to it.

For the time being.

With a final grin, Olose turned and was about to leave when he stopped and turned to them.

"Oh, and tell Vivli..." He said quietly, a deadly serious look in his eyes. " Tell Vivli I lll-" For a moment it looked as if he was about to say the inevitable word, until he finally finished with; "-like her eyepatch." His mouth beamed into a massive grin, and he let out a cocky wave as he turned once again to the exit.

However, after opening the door, he merely stood there for a moment, motionless.

"Urm," he called out slowly, "You know how it seemed we escaped from those demons just a bit too easily?" He backed away from the doorway as demons entered the room. "Well, I'm thinking, not so much."

The vile Kindred of Darkness, the demons who once served the Shadow Lord, and now bowed to the will of the Dark Aeon known as Chaos, filed into the room and surrounded them.

However, to the heroes' surprise, the demons otherwise held their ground and merely stood there, watching them.

"Uh, this is a bit disconcerting," commented Doyle uncomfortably.

Before anyone had a chance to reply, a figure entered the room. It was a tall man, an Elvaan, with rather long silver-white hair. His skin was tinged a dark blue, and his eyes were an unnatural yellow that almost seemed to glow from within.

He was a Dark Elvaan, one who had been touched so thoroughly by Evil that it had tainted his very soul, seeping through his body and discoloring his very skin.

Doyle chose not to comment on how disconcerting that was.

The strange Elvaan glanced at Doyle briefly, then grunted before turning his attention to Saskya. He stopped and stared at her for an uncomfortable moment.

"Ah," he said quietly in a low whisper that seemed to echo within their heads, "The Chosen One. One of Two. The One of Light. It seems you have lost your way."

Her skin crawled at the feel of his thoughts within her mind, at the overpowering smell of darkness that reeked from his body.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, trying to keep her voice level so as not to show her fear.

The Dark Elvaan grinned, but his eyes remained soulless. "Tick tock, the King is dead. San d'Oria has fallen and lost its head." He raised her sword in his hand, peering at the fine blade.

Saskya blinked in confusion. She had not even seen him take it from her.

"Your presence is required," he told her, "The Dark Lord Chaos, King of Reincarnation, would like to make your acquaintance. I suggest you dress nice."

In a single sudden motion that no one was even able to anticipate, the Elvaan plunged her sword straight through Doyle's heart, pinning him to the wall and killing him instantly. He released the hilt, leaving the sword within the Hume's chest.

Saskya stood there, shocked at what had happened. Olose, however, was not content to just stand around.

"Why, you son of a - " he growled, hurling himself at the Dark Elvaan in rage.

The Elvaan turned and reached out a hand, grabbing Olose firmly by the throat and stopping him in his tracks. His strength was surprising, to say the least.

"And you," the Elvaan replied in that odd low whisper as he stared at Olose with those glowing yellow eyes, "Your aura is familiar. I've met you before, long ago."

"Doubtful," growled Olose, "If you had, you'd have been long dead."

The Elvaan had that twisted grin again.

"'Cuz I would have killed you. Long ago," added Olose, in case the point behind his statement had been misunderstood.

"I see images," continued the Dark Elvaan, "A wolf. A grey wolf. Clawing beneath my feet. You don't seem too happy"

"I'll be happy once I tear your heart out," replied Olose, twisting within his grasp, but unable to break free.

"Sshhh. I hear voices," the Elvaan said quietly, "Voices in my head. The words were spoken long ago, but their sentiment fits this situation at the present moment quite well. Let's see..."

The Dark Elvaan closed his eyes. When he spoke again, it was as if he was someone else. His eyes opened and they now appeared to be glowing bright red.

"Now you see that you cannot win, boy. Your pathetic hope has ended. You will die and my revenge will be complete." He chuckled. "Although I might just take Vivli for myself, just to sweeten the deal."

Olose froze, staring at him. "What?"

The red of the Elvaan's eyes faded back to yellow as he continued. "Of course, I changed the name there at the end, just to fit the times. After all, Arcadia has been dead for a very long time now."

Olose shook his head, or at least tried to within the Elvaan's steel grip.

"No," he croaked, "It can't be... Abaj?"

Abaj Tuh had been a Hume. A werewolf, like him. This person was Elvaan - a Dark Elvaan at that. It did not make any sense. Plus, there was one other point that was brought forward for discussion.

"I killed you," groaned Olose.

The Elvaan nodded. "Yes you did," he agreed.

In his free hand, the Dark Elvaan suddenly held a long silver spear. In his bare hand, and the silver did not burn him. He was not a werewolf.

"You recognize this?" he asked.

It was the spear Olose had used to kill Abaj so long ago.

"How fitting that I'll use it now, to kill you," growled the Elvaan, his eyes once again glowing a bright red.

The Elvaan with the memories of Abaj Tuh plunged the great silver spear through Olose Sampson's heart, pinning him to the wall next to Doyle. Olose let out an unnatural ear-splitting scream, smoke rising from his chest as his heart burned away to ashes.

Saskya shut her eyes, wishing she could block the scream from her ears, as the man who had lived for over 600 years was no more.

The Dark Elvaan's eyes were yellow once again as he grabbed Saskya's wrist and pulled her behind him towards the exit.

"Come, Chosen One. Chaos awaits."

**While this may return to Vivli's original view of a dark hopeless situation, and introduced what I thought would be an interesting plot twist, it only succeeded in making a rather long scene longer, and may possibly have confused anyone who had not yet read Vivli's _Twilight of the Immortal_. Or even confused those whom had read it, and knew what would happen much later in that story. Also, it took the point of view of the scene away from Saskya and passed it to Olose, which made it seem a bit too inconsistent.**

**I had also originally intended to include Saskya's younger sister, Miiake, in the scene, accompanying the mysterious Dark Elvaan. It would have been revealed that she had been touched by Evil, and was now a servant of Chaos. However, I eventually opted to leave her out.**

**Finally, as a minor side note, the description of Chaos as being the King of Reincarnation was taken from the japanese translation of the newly released Final Fantasy XII, which has Chaos as one of the summon Espers.**

**The Sylph Dimension: Original Scene**

**Originally, I had planned to write this scene myself, continuing the story the author known as Vivli had started in _Vivli Tails_, where her character Vivli was a rather frightened girl bored with her job at a small shop in Windurst, and later discovered that her adventurer friend Zinkata had been killed. In the _Saskya Tails_ scene, I was going to reveal that the Mithran guard whom had informed Vivli of this news was actually Saskya, who had also been by Zinkata's side when he died.**

**Other than that, I didn't really have much else of a plot in mind. So when the author Vivli told me that she had an idea for the same scene, which she wanted to attempt in a new style of writing she had been working on, I happily accepted. And thus _Saskya, Private Eye_ was born.**

**Other Ideas And Trivial Bits of Possible Insanity**

**There were a few other scene ideas I had for alternate realities that didn't make the final cut of _Saskya Tails_.**

**One was another scene to be written by the author known as Vivli, where Saskya would have been a member of Olose's crew aboard his ship the Destiny (whatever version of the ship existed in the present time), but the author Vivli was rather busy and had not the time to write. So I threw together an old unused idea I had which became the scene for the Bismarck Dimension.**

**In another dimension a little more darker than the Vana'diel we know, Saskya's parents were killed by rogue Humes who hunted Mithra for sport. This resulted in her developing an intense hatred for Humes. While this hatred was not to the extent that she would kill any Humes in cold blood, she would however choose to ignore any in peril, refusing to help them. She has difficulty trusting even the brave Hume who later saves her life.**

**I had also planned to write a scene in the Hades Dimension, having Saskya in the background of the author Vivli's _FFXI Chronicles_. However, alas, it did not come to be.**

**Also, I had originally planned to write more for the scene in the Kujata Dimension, but the scene had run a lot longer than I had intended (it is in fact the longest scene thus far in the story), so I decided to end it where I did. I deem this an important scene, not only for the character development of Saskya's stepsister Miiake, but also for the fact that it connects in a sort of crossover with not one but two other stories I have planned in the works. One story deals with the pirates of the Crimson Merrow, while the other deals with a character that would have been introduced had I continued the scene a bit further. For those of you now curious, here is a snippet beyond the current end of the scene.**

There was a thick metal cable joining the two airships. Saskya was about to call to Miiake, when the pirate ship fired another grappling harpoon, striking the side of the Windurst airship and trailing another metal cable between them.

The deck shook violently beneath her feet as Saskya stumbled towards her sister.

Several black-armored guards had come up on deck at this point, as had the Commander himself. However, she did not expect to see a rather familiar figure standing next to him. It was a young Mithra with silver hair. She wore a form fitting black uniform with elaborate blue trim.

"It's Marih," exclaimed Miiake in confusion.

Saskya remembered now. Marih Ettialoh was a young girl whom Miiake had befriended many years ago in Kazham. Over time they had become quite inseparable. In fact, just yesterday they had been shopping for supplies for Miiake's trip.

What was she doing here?

"Marih!" called Miiake.

The young Mithra glanced at her blankly, but otherwise gave no reply.

That was when the pirates chose to board the airship, crossing the thick cables that held the two ships in place, side by side.

**The usual swashbuckling fight would have followed, with Saskya and Miiake fending off both pirates and black guards, unsure which to trust, while protecting this girl who is sought after by both sides.**

**Unfortunately for any curious readers, I won't get back to that for quite some time. With the prologue done, I will now be focusing on the main story, which takes place in the Garuda Dimension, where Saskya has just arrived in San d'Oria.**

**I thank those of you who have stuck with me this long. I only hope I don't disappoint anyone.**

**Up next:**

**_Final Fantasy XI: In the Service of San d'Oria_.**


End file.
